Japanese & Oriental Ceramic - Hazel H. Gorham

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in the island of Kyushu spread all over Japan by the eighteenth century.

      Fourth:—An influence undoubtedly cultural but of doubtful artistic value exerted by the demand for wares pleasing to the people of other countries. This was first felt early in the seventeenth century, spearheaded then by Dutch traders and now in the twentieth century spearheaded by American merchants. Although this influence is directed on wares for export it did not fail to affect the purely local art.

      It is not the intention of the author of this book to sit in judgement on the ceramic art of Japan in this the year of our Lord 1951 (the 26th year of Showa in Japan) for we feel that is best left to the discretion of our readers. Our effort is to enable them to recognize what is essentially Japanese and what is due to outside influences. We believe that Japan has contributed to the ceramic art of the world through her love for simplicity and naturalness. We acknowledge Japan's great debt to older cultures but we also think that she has something of value to offer in return. Of all the forms of art in Japan that of pottery is perhaps the best illustration of the Japanese sense of individuality. Japanese porcelains do not show this as pottery does, porcelains are more apt to follow stereotyped shapes and patterns; but in the making of pottery wares the Japanese artist allows his individual fancy full sway.

      The seclusion policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate has placed Japan in the position of being the least understood country in the Orient, culturally. When, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Japan burst forth from this seclusion, her people's admiration of foreign things knew no bounds and, alas, also no discrimination. Japanese taste and Japanese art went into abeyance and ceramic productions in their attempt to appeal to European taste (of which Japanese artisans had not the faintest conception) reached unbelievably low levels. Thus, to judge Japanese ceramic art by things that have gone abroad is obviously unfair. The attitude towards wares for export taken by the Japanese in general is one of total indifference, they simply ignore them, and it is doubtful if there is in existence any writing in Japanese on this subject.

      Of course some of the productions intended for export must have remained in Japan and these have a certain value to Japanese collectors as marking successive steps in the development of Japanese ceramic art, or are treasured as family possessions because of the circumstances under which they came into the possession of the owners. With the early wares of Imari as with the once scorned woodblock prints (ukiyo ye) the passage of time has brought about a change in the thinking of some Japanese. And dealers in antiques for the tourist trade and manufacturers are obligingly reproducing these old wares for sale to the tourist of today.

      Historical Outline of the Development of

       Oriental Ceramic Wares

      The history of the development of decorated ceramic wares runs parallel with the history of many other forms of culture and civilization, from West to East. Cultural influences originating in such ancient civilizations as Egypt, Persia, and Greece traveled eastward by camel caravans over the deserts and by ships over the seas. This fact must not be forgotten in any attempt to understand the cultural products of Asia, and cannot be ignored when trying to judge and appreciate today's ceramic art of Japan. Okakura Tenshin wrote in his Book of Tea "Asia is one" and by this he meant one in cultural forms, for the great cultural current from the West in its surge to the East influenced all countries of Asia.

      Group known as rokkasen, or The Six Poets; one, sometimes two, of them are women. This group has five men and one woman.

      Glazes

      The history of industrial art objects made of clay begins with the sunbaked tiles of Egypt and Mesopotamia and the development of glazes in those countries.

      The secret of the preparation of glazes was known only to the potters of Babylonia and Assyria for many years and the current of that form of culture flowed eastward through Persia and Gandra before it entered China. In the ruins of Han dynasty settlements (202 B.C. to 220 A.D.) green glazed pottery is still being brought to light and fragments of glazed articles of the Shang dynasty (1766 to 1123 B.C.) are found.

      Historically it must be considered that the art of glaze of the Han dynasty was the result of the amalgamation of two arts, that which came from the West and that which sprang up in China independently. From this fusion of native and imported arts the Chinese potters developed other colour glazes and the three colour (sansai) pottery of the T'ang dynasty (618 to 907) came into existence. Among the many arts which came to Japan from China was that of pottery glaze, and so the ancient art of Egypt in the West came to Japan in the East. The Shoso-in at Nara, the Imperial Repository, has many articles of pottery closely resembling the Tang three colour wares and from them we can get an idea of the condition of the Japanese ceramic art of that period.

      Pottery and the art of glazing made steady progress in Japan, especially in what is known as the Momoyama Period (approximately 1574 to 1602). This period can be called the renaissance in Japan when the cult of cha no yu was at its height and under its influence and encouragement pottery making rose to a high level and in the subsequent half century the manufacture of porcelain was begun.

      It was during this period that Japan received from China the arts of under-the-glaze decoration in blue (sometsuke or gosu) and of over glaze enamel colours (akaye or gosu-akaye), which completely revolutionized the native ceramics. The perfection of the art of porcelain decoration was a slow development in China from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century when it flamed suddenly into a beauty that has never since been equalled: and it burst upon Japan with an impact that is still felt.

      At first only a small part of Japan was affected because all contact with the outside world was confined to a few ports in Kyushu but by the beginning of the nineteenth century this cultural wave had swept all over Japan. Japanese ceramic artists, all unknown to themselves, were following the tradition of centuries, the aesthetic tradition and the accumulated experiences of the potters of the world, and they in their turn produced things of beauty and of individuality.

      With the removal of the veil of mystery from the manipulation of ceramic glazes and the mastery of their use, a new element entered and a great modern industry was under way.

      Like the knowledge of glazing, pottery design, indeed all art, followed an eastward course. Greece was the home of many arts and its god Keramos, who watched over its potters and clay workers, gave not only the name by which wares made of clay are known today but also many beautiful patterns to the potters of the world. Geometrical patterns which the Egyptian potters used in pre-Sumerian days three thousand years ago reappear in today's small decorative patterns. The Phoenicians gave us the first band decoration, the anchor chain, and conventionalized palm trees. The honeysuckle meander and lotus-rosette of the Proto-Corinthians and Ionians are found all over the world and in the modern designs of Japan today are motives of most varied national origin.

      Designs from Greece, Persia and China, cultural relics of those countries, abide side by side in utmost harmony here in Japan, the cultural melting pot of the Orient. Grecian ceramic art has died out, that of Persia is a thing of the past, China where the ceramic art came to such glorious perfection has fallen on evil days and has nothing to teach us now. Only in Japan can be found traces of that cultural stream still pursuing its eastward course.

      The migrations of the art of glazing and of design have been discussed at some length, we come now to the consideration of how to determine whether an article is of Chinese or Japanese origin. For this purpose it is absolutely necessary to touch and handle the thing in question for the sense of touch is more to be relied upon than that of sight in this case. Ceramic-connoisseurs have allowed themselves to be blindfolded and through their sense of touch alone have correctly determined the age of an article and the kiln at which it was made.

      To be able to intelligently differentiate between Chinese and Japanese ceramics by design only really requires a considerable knowledge of Chinese art. But an easier approach to the

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