Japan: Its History, Arts, and Literature/Volume 8/Chapter 3
Chapter III
WARES OF SATSUMA (KAGOSHIMA PREFECTURE)
During two centuries Japan's keramic reputation in Europe rested chiefly on the enamelled porcelains of Arita, the "Old Japan" of European collectors. Had the beautiful blue-and-white ware of Hirado, or the chastely decorated masterpieces of the Kakiemon school[1] found their way westward in any quantity, they might have compelled admiration after a time. Yet when it is remembered that the striking brilliancy of the grand Chinese blues failed, until quite recently, to excite the enthusiasm of Occidental connoisseurs, it becomes easy to understand how the less effective and more æsthetic porcelains of Hirado remain even to this day without due recognition. In early times the Dutch traders stood between Europe and Japan. They were the medium through which a reflection of Japanese art had to be transmitted. But the Dutch, being practical merchants, thought less of educating new tastes than of catering for those that already existed. They did not export Hirado blue-and-white, because, in the first place, it was scarcely procurable, and, in the second, they understood nothing of its beauties. They did not largely export porcelains of the Kakiemon genre, because a style so simple was incapable of appealing to vulgar fancy. They were not even content to export the more richly enamelled porcelain of the Chinese school, until the profusion of its decoration had been still further increased at their bidding. Thus, in the end, the Japanese ware that came into the hands of European collectors was neither purely Japanese nor purely Chinese, but a compound of both, with a considerable admixture of foreign conceits. The decorative fashions of this "Old Japan" were as inconsistent with the art instincts of the country of its origin as the shapes in which it was manufactured for export—five or three pieces, beakers and jars, en suite—were unserviceable in Japanese houses. Nothing was known for a long time of Japan's workers in pottery and faience, though it was unquestionably in these branches of their art that her keramists gave most untrammelled play to their native genius, producing pieces of the greatest beauty and quaintness. Europe did not really discover its ignorance until the Paris Exposition of 1867. The discovery might have been made sooner. Several years previously Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Representative at the Court of Japan, had sent to the London Exhibition a collection that ought to have opened the eyes of connoisseurs. But from some inexplicable cause these admirable specimens, selected with judgment and under exceptionally favourable circumstances by the English connoisseur, only served as a feeble prelude to the effect produced by the Paris exhibits. In 1867, at last, people became aware that the "Porcelaine des Indes à fleurs," the richly decorated "famille Chrysanthemo-Tæonienne," on which alone Japan's keramic reputation had hitherto depended, was in truth but one among a multitude of charming productions, and that the pottery and faience of this land of artists merited even more attention than its porcelains.
In the field thus newly opened to Western collectors, the first place has by common consent been assigned to the faience of Satsuma. In decorative excellence other wares of Japan equal and even excel this beautiful faience, but in combined softness and richness it has no peer. So fully have its merits been recognised that no American or European collection of Oriental objects of virtu is deemed complete unless it contains a specimen of Satsuma-yaki. It must, however, be added that few Western collections contain a really representative specimen. That faience of a brilliantly decorative, and at the same time artistic, nature has been exported in considerable quantities to Europe and America during the past thirty years, under the name of Satsuma-yaki, is unquestionable. Unquestionable, also, is the fact that from 1880 Japanese decorators, inspired by the demands of the American market, succeeded in imitating "Old Satsuma" with much fidelity. But in one essential particular this modern ware differs from the beautiful faience so rare and so highly prized in Japan. If it be admitted that first-class specimens of ancient Chinese céladon bear some comparison with the jade which they were designed to imitate, there will be no risk of hyperbole in asserting that the Satsuma ware of bygone times can scarcely, at first sight, be distinguished from ivory. In vain does one search among modern pieces for the exquisitely smooth surface, rich, mellow tone, and almost imperceptible crackle of the old faience. What one generally finds is crude, chalky pâte, covered with glaze that is fissured rather than crackled. Or if the crackle is close and the pâte tolerably fine, the soft, ivory tint of the old faience is replaced by artificial discoloration intended to simulate what it never can really resemble, the effects of age. Yet on the decoration of this indifferent manufacture are lavished all the resources of ingenuity and patience. Elaborate combinations of diapers, bouquets of brilliant flowers, armies of gorgeously apparelled saints, peacocks with spreading tails, and dragons environed by golden clouds—all subjects, in fact, that can help to achieve gaud and glitter—are employed by painters who have prostituted their inherited instincts to the supposed tastes of their foreign customers. That the results achieved are not without merit, and that in many cases they attain a very high standard of decorative craft, are facts needing no demonstration. What they represent, however, is neither the spirit nor the fashion of true Japanese art, but simply the adaptive genius of Japanese artists. Just as, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the potters of Arita obeyed the demand of the Dutch factory at Deshima, and not only modified their decorative motives, but even manufactured pieces en suite that could never have been used in Japan; so, from 1870 onwards, Satsuma faience-painters thought chiefly of producing something that would either deceive by its resemblance to the ware of old times, or attract vulgar admiration by its gorgeousness and brilliancy. It does not follow that these artists had ceased to respect the principles which their florid style violates. They merely suited their fashions to foreign customers. The best possible comment on the estimate which Japanese connoisseurs form of such styles is supplied by the fact that pieces decorated after the fashion of the "commercial school," as it may justly be termed, find absolutely no purchasers in the country of their origin: not alone does their garish ornamentation exceed the extreme limits prescribed by the æsthetic chastity of the tea-clubs, but their generally faulty workmanship lends an unpleasant air of sham to the pains taken in pranking them out.
The earliest manufacture of pottery in Sasshiu, the most southerly among the nine provinces of Kiushiu, is referred to the latter half of the fifteenth century, but, like the other productions of that period, it was represented by tea utensils of the scantiest merit. A hundred years later (1596), the celebrated Shimazu Yoshihiro, Chief of Satsuma, returning from the invasion of Korea, brought with him a large number of workmen—some fivescore, it is said—of whom seventeen were skilled potters. The names of these seventeen are still retained by their descendants. According to Japanese pronunciation, the Korean names are as follows: Shin, Ri, Boku, Hen, Kyō, Tei, Jin, Rin, Haku, Sai, Chin, Ro, Kin, Ga, Tei, Sha, and Sai. They were settled at first in three villages, Kushikino, Ichiku, and Sanno-gawa. It does not appear that they immediately received orders to open keramic factories. The tradition is that one of their number, whose Japanese name was Hōchiu, urged his comrades to repay the benefits which they had received at the hands of their conquerors by introducing the keramic methods of their native country. A year previously (1595) Prince Yoshihiro had constructed a castle at Chōsa, in the neighbouring province of Hiuga. Thither he directed Hōchiu and some others of the Korean experts to move, for the purpose of carrying on their industry. The Koreans were thus divided into two sections,—a fact which it is essential to note in order to arrive at a clear idea of the early history of the Satsuma ware. The section that repaired to Hiuga was headed by Hōchiu; the section that remained in Sasshiu was under the direction of Boku Heii. It will be convenient to speak of the former first.
The date of the transfer of Hōchiu and his comrades to Chōsa is placed in 1598. They established a factory in a district called Nabekura, under the immediate patronage of Yoshihiro. The wares which they manufactured at first were pottery and faience after Korean methods; that is to say, ware having brownish or reddish brown pâte, translucid, colourless glaze, and archaic ornamentation consisting of incised designs filled with white slip under the glaze. These pieces are purely traditional. None survive that can be identified with certainty as the early work of the Chōsa potters. Within a very short time of their settlement at Chōsa, they began to manufacture faience without any parallel among Korean productions. It is difficult to account for the ability they developed, unless, indeed, an explanation is furnished by the fact that until their arrival in Japan they had enjoyed no opportunity of examining the works of Chinese keramists. Prince Yoshihiro was a collector on a magnificent scale. Among his treasures numerous masterpieces of the Middle Kingdom were included, and it was his pleasure to offer these as models for the potters at the new factory. So much interest did he take in the work that whenever a specimen of exceptional excellence was turned out, he made a practice of stamping it with his own seal,—an honour not easily appreciated without some knowledge of the position occupied by a feudal chief in Japan three centuries ago. Pieces thus distinguished received the title of "Go-honde," or "honourable standards." It is recorded that Yoshihiro's resolve to rival the reputation of Chinese keramists induced him to import clay from the Yellow River in China, and glazing material from Korea. Specimens potted under these circumstances were termed "Hi-bakari," or "fire only," inasmuch as Japan's sole contribution to their manufacture was the kiln in which they were baked. It must not be supposed, however, that there is here any question of ware resembling that known to modern collectors as Satsuma-yaki. The productions of Hōchiu and his comrades were of an entirely different class. Eighteen varieties are said to have been manufactured, but no record is preserved of the exact points in which they differed. Several of them were purely of the Korean genre; others were copied from the Chinese. Of the latter, eight kinds are well known. The first of them is called Jakatsu-gusuri by Japanese connoisseurs, from the fact that its dark grey glaze is run in large, distinct globules, supposed to resemble the scales on a dragon's (Ja) back. The second is the Namako-gusuri, a term derived from the likeness which the flambé glaze bears to the greenish blue, mottled tints of the bêche-de-mer (namako). This faience, or stone-ware, is nothing more than an imitation of the Chinese Kwan-yao, or ware of Canton. The pâte is dense, well manipulated, and of a greyish red colour; the effect of the flambé glaze is rich and pleasing. The third variety is the Tessha-gusuri, so called from the iron (tetsu) dust (sha) that appears to float in the glaze. This is a copy of the Tei-shu-hwa of China. The fourth is a black glaze (Kuro-gusuri), softer and richer than the noir mat of the Chinese potters, but less brilliant than their noir éclatant. The fifth is black glaze speckled with gold dust; a beautiful and rare variety. The sixth is tea-green glaze, usually overlapping one or two coats of russet-brown or pear-skin glazes. The seventh is polychromatic glaze, the principal colours being tea-green, greyish white, and rich brown. The eighth is tortoise-shell glaze (Bekko-gusuri), of great richness and exceedingly dextrous technique. Specimens of all these are still procurable, but they are generally small pieces designed for the use of the tea-clubs. They show, however, that the skill of the Chōsa potters, so long ago as the beginning of the seventeenth century, was very remarkable. It is believed by some Japanese amateurs that among the so-called Korean potters who settled in Satsuma, and elsewhere in Kiushu, after the return of the Japanese expedition from Korea, not a few Chinese keramic experts were included. If this theory be accepted, it accounts for much that would otherwise be scarcely explicable. For it is certain that among authenticated productions of Korean kilns there is nothing that compares with the wares described above, whereas precisely similar glazes were produced at the Chinese factories of Ching-tê-chên and elsewhere.
In the year 1610 Prince Yoshihiro changed his residence to Kojiki, in the neighbouring province of Osumi. Hōchiu and his comrades followed their patron, establishing themselves at Hiki-yama in the same district. A few years later Hōchiu's eldest son, Kisaburo, showed such proficiency that Prince Yoshihiro bestowed on him the name of Kawara, because of the fact that the Hiki-yama factory stood near the bank of the river Kurokawa. Kisaburo, sometimes called Saburohei or Kihei, thus became the founder of the Kawara family, which long remained conspicuous among the Satsuma experts. Prince Yoshihiro died in the era of Genna (1615–1623), but the potteries established by him continued to flourish under the direction of Hōchiu, who survived until 1636. Prince Yoshihiro's successor directed Koemon, a son of Kawara Kihei, to open a separate factory at a place called Yamamoto, authorising him, at the same time, to adopt the family name of Yamamoto. Thus Hōchiu's descendants were divided into two branches, the Kawara family, founded by his son Kisaburo, and the Yamamoto family, founded by his grandson Koemon. Kawara Kisaburo's second son, Tobei, succeeded him in the direction of the Hiki-yama factory, but about the year 1650 the two families reunited and established themselves at Tatsumonji, in the Oyamada district in Osumi. The reason of this change of place was the discovery, in the Oyamada region, of a white stone from which it was found possible to manufacture pâte of much finer quality and purer colour than anything previously produced. The potters were no longer under the munificent patronage of Prince Yoshihiro. They still enjoyed a large measure of support from the house of Shimazu, but it would scarcely have been within their competence to move their kilns to Tatsumonji had they not received assistance from a wealthy farmer, by name Yoshiemon, who, out of pure love of the keramic art, contributed one-half of the money required to make the change. From this time they were able to add another variety to their manufactures, namely, faience covered with greyish white glaze finely crackled.
At this point it becomes convenient to revert to the story of the remaining Korean potters who had accompanied Prince Yoshihiro. At first they settled in the district of Hioki, in Sasshū, establishing a factory at Shitana, and manufacturing wares of much the same character as those produced by Hōchiu and his comrades at Chōsa. But in the year 1603, for some reason not recorded, they removed to the Nawashiro district in the same province, closing the factory of Hioki, or Moto-tsubo-ya, as the place is now called. Among the Korean wares most highly esteemed in Japan there was a variety to which Japanese virtuosi had given the name of Koma-gai—written Kumagawa. This was faience having somewhat coarse, brown pâte, with lustrous, cream-coloured or buff glaze, very finely crackled and of considerable merit. Resembling in some respects the Chinese white Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty,—a ware eagerly sought after by the tea-clubs—the Koma-gai faience offered a model which Prince Yoshihiro was naturally anxious to see copied at his factories. His wish could not be complied with at first, owing to lack of suitable materials. Various essays were made by Boku Heii, the most skilled of the Korean experts, but so little success was achieved that in the year 1614 Prince Yoshihiro found it necessary to have a careful search made throughout his fief for suitable materials. The task was entrusted to Boku Heii. After an examination conducted with the utmost patience, Heii reported that the following materials were suited for manufacturing a faience of the desired nature: A species of white sand found at Kaseda; a stone for manufacturing glaze, found at Kionomine, in the same district; three varieties of white earth found, respectively, at Uchiyama, in the Ibusuki district, at Narukawa, and at Nibura in the same district; and the ash obtained from the bark of the Nara tree grown in the Kagago district. The results of this investigation were satisfactory. Thenceforth there was produced at the Nawashiro, or Nawashiro-gawa factory, a faience superior in pâte and equal in glaze to the celebrated Komagai ware. This was the origin of the Satsuma-yaki destined afterwards to become so famous. It is recorded that Prince Yoshihiro, much pleased with Heii's diligence and skill, appointed him superintendent of the factory, and furnished him with models to copy; the Prince stamping with his own seal—as he did at the Chōsa workshops—specimens that showed exceptional merit. Another plan devised by this noble with the object of promoting excellence was to grant handsome annuities to potters who distinguished themselves, and to withdraw these rewards from those that showed want of skill. The custom was observed by Yoshihiro's successors until the abolition of feudalism (1868). Its effects must have been very marked.
Boku Heii died in the year 1621. The line of his descendants is still uninterrupted, each representative of the family bearing the name of Heii, as was ordained by Prince Yoshihiro. A contemporary of Boku was Chin Tōkichi, who also attained considerable reputation, and was appointed foreman of the Nawashiro factory. He was succeeded by his son Toju, and the latter by his son, Tōkichi. The feudal chief of Sasshiu honored Tōkichi (of the third generation) by conferring on him the name of "Tōichi" (ichi signifies "first," or most excellent). This event occurred about the year 1675, by which time the manufacture had been carried to a point of high excellence at Nawashiro. It has been shown that the Korean potters at Tatsumonji had commenced to produce similar ware in 1650. This is the Hibiki-de, or white craquelé faience of Satsuma. But as yet nothing is heard of decorated faience; of the Saishiki-de, or enamelled ware, and of the Nishiki-de, or brocade ware (i. e. decorated with gold as well as coloured enamels), which are practically the only varieties of Satsuma-yaki familiar to Western collectors. Strange to say, some confusion exists with regard to the origin of these beautiful products. So respectable an authority as Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, author of the "Kanko Zusetsu," refers the first use of vitrifiable enamels by the Sasshiu potters to a period no earlier than the beginning of the nineteenth century, founding his statement upon the fact that two experts of the Tatsumonji factory visited Kyōtō at the close of the eighteenth century, and there acquired the art of decorating with vitrifiable enamels. That such a visit was made is undoubtedly true. It will be referred to by-and-by. But that the first employment of vitrifiable enamels in the Satsuma fief dates from the visit, is a theory defying credence. It involves the supposition that the keramists of Satsuma, enjoying the patronage of one of the greatest nobles in Japan, and producing a ware of exceptionally fine quality, remained during more than a century and a half ignorant of processes which were practised at all the best factories in the Empire, and which had won renown for a near and rival province, Hizen. Careful enquiry proves that credulity need not be so heavily taxed. The perplexity of Mr. Ninagawa and others was caused by failing to observe that the factory where enamelled Satsuma ware was first produced is distinct from the factory where its manufacture was revived at the close of the eighteenth century. It may be confidently asserted that enamelled wares were made by the potters of Tatsumonji as early as 1675. Mitsuhisa was then the feudal chief of Satsuma, and it is recorded that he bestowed nearly as much patronage upon the potters of his fief as his ancestor Yoshihiro had done. Iyemitsu, third Regent of the Tokugawa dynasty, had encouraged the already growing taste for highly decorated ware, and his influence was felt at all the centres of keramic industry in Japan. The Prince of Sasshiu was not likely to be behind the times. He summoned to his fief the painter Tangen, a pupil of the renowned Tanyu (died 1674), and employed him to paint faience himself or to furnish the keramists with designs. Ware produced under these circumstances received the name Satsuma Tangen, and now constitutes one of the treasures of Japanese dilettanti. The number of pieces manufactured was small. They were destined entirely for private use or for presents. The decoration was not brilliant, the object being to show the painter's skill rather than the enameller's. Judging by the very rare specimens still extant, it appears that the rich combinations of jewelled diapers and delicately painted medallions of middle-period Satsuma were not affected by the potters of Tangen's time. The style of the latter may be more appropriately called sketchy—slight floral designs, impressionist landscapes, birds on branches, and such simple subjects constituted the favourite motives. Sometimes the only colour employed by the decorator was the reddish brown obtained from Kaki-no-shibu (the juice of the Diospyros Kaki). Such pictures were called Shibu-e.
Some investigators claim that the production of this early-period enamelled faience was confined to the workshops at Tatsumonji; others that it extended also to the factory of Tadeno. The point is unimportant. It is sufficient to note that from 1675 to the latter part of the eighteenth century ware of this description was manufactured in very small quantities for special purposes.
The factory of Tadeno, mentioned here, was established during the Kuan-ei era (1625–1643), in the Kagoshima district of Sasshiu, by special order of the chief of the fief. Its productions were always of a very high order, and one of its artists, Kōnō Senemon, who flourished from the Meiwa era (1764–1772), acquired great renown. Senemon's skill lay chiefly in the manufacture of the wares known as Chōsa-yaki; that is to say, the flambé, tea-coloured, black and brown glazes of Hōchiu and his comrades.
It has been explained that the Yamamoto and Kawara families united to establish the Tatsumonji factory about 1650. The latter family was then represented by Kawara Tobei, who left three sons, of whom the eldest was Gensuke and the youngest Juzaemon. This Juzaemon founded an independent branch of the family, and was succeeded by a son, also called Juzaemon, who took the artist name Hōkō. Hōkō was a man of great enterprise and ambition. At the age of twenty-three he obtained his father's permission to repair to the Tadeno factory, where Kōnō Senemon was then at the zenith of his fame. After studying for twelve years under Kōnō's direction, Hōkō returned to Tatsumonji, and succeeded in reproducing the eighteen varieties of faience for which his ancestor Hōchiu had been famous. Not content with this achievement, he now conceived the idea of visiting the workshops of Hizen. For this purpose the indispensable permission and aid of the Prince of Satsuma were obtained. Hōkō, accompanied by Kawara Yagoro, the representative of the elder branch of his family, repaired to Arita and informed himself of the methods practised there. Finally, in 1793, he resolved to visit all the principal factories throughout Japan. Shimazu Tomonobu, then chief of the fief, an ardent lover and patron of the fine arts, not only approved Hōkō's design, but furnished him with money for his journey, and directed Hoshiyama Chiubei, a potter of Tadeno, to accompany him. The two experts, having spent some time at the principal keramic centres of Kiushu—namely, Hizen, Higo, Chikuzen, and Chikugo—passed over to the mainland, and proceeded to Kyōtō, viâ the celebrated workshops of Bizen. At Kyōtō they placed themselves in communication with Aoki Sobei, a potter of great repute. Sobei recommended them to go on to Owari, promising that on their return he would have something to teach them. They accordingly proceeded to Seto; learned there the method of manufacturing the faience called Mifukai-yaki (vide Seto), and then returned to Kyōtō by Ise. Sobei kept his word. He showed the travellers all the processes for producing the enamelled faience of Awata (vide Kyōtō), as well as the Raku ware, dear to the tea-clubs. Thus, by the time they reached home, they had acquired a knowledge of all the chief keramic productions of the Empire. From this epoch (1795) may be dated a large increase in the manufacture of enamelled Satsuma faience. The prince of the fief, Shimazu Tomonobu, afterwards called Eiō, gave special orders in 1796 for the production of enamelled faience—Nishiki-de—at the Tadeno factory, and it is to this fact, taken in conjunction with the impulse imparted to the decorative art of Satsuma generally by the acquirements and enterprise of Hōkō and Chiubei, that may be ascribed the popular misconception, spoken of above, with regard to the period when vitrifiable enamels were first used by the potters of Sasshiu and Osumi.
The distinguishing features of the enamelled Satsuma-yaki produced in the time of Eiō, as well as in the early days of the manufacture, were fineness of pâte and lustre of glaze. The former was as close-grained as pipe-clay, and almost as hard as porcelain biscuit. The amateur can have no safer guide. He will find that, however chaste and careful may be the decoration of a modern piece, the chalky, porous nature of the pâte at once proclaims its youth. As for the glaze, it was indescribably smooth, lustrous, and mellow. Quality of glaze, however, is not an infallible criterion of age. Old and in other respects excellent pieces are to be found which show a somewhat coarsely crackled, crude surface. But the amateur may accept this as a rule,—that choice pieces of old Satsuma-yaki should have an ivory-like, lustrous glaze, of creamy or even yellowish tone, and that their crackle should be almost microscopic. The enamels used were red, green, Prussian blue, purple, gold, black, and yellow. All these may be seen on modern imitations also, but the purity and brilliancy of the old enamels are now seldom rivalled. As for decorative subjects, it may be emphatically laid down that pieces upon which human figures and peacocks are depicted belong, with very rare exceptions, to the spurious period. Groups of saints—as, for example, the Sixteen Bōdhisattvas—or congregations of other religious persons—as the five hundred Arhats—are favourite subjects with the modern painter of Satsuma ware. To a Japanese of former times such subjects would have seemed as much out of place on the surface of a flower-vase as a crucifix on a beer-flagon would appear to Europeans. Of course the fitness of things would not have been equally violated by representations of peacocks or warriors. About these nothing need be said except that they were never in fashion at Nawashiro or Tatsumonji. The Satsuma potter confined himself strictly to diapers, floral subjects, landscapes, and a few conventionalities, such as the Phœnix, the Shishi (mythical lion), the Dragon, and the Kirin (unicorn).
The choice pieces potted at the Satsuma-yaki factory prior to the mediatisation of the fiefs (1868) were invariably small, or at most of medium size. Tripod incense-burners six or seven inches high, with pierced lids, were perhaps the most important examples. Smaller specimens take the form of cups, wine-bottles (Saké-dokuri) with slender necks, ewers (suiteki), censers (Kōro), incense-boxes (Kōgo), vases for placing on the lower shelf of a stand (Shoku-sh'ta), and so forth. The large imposing examples included in so many Western collections are invariably of modern manufacture.
It may be worth noticing that in a beautifully illustrated work called "The Keramic Arts of Japan" by Messrs. Audsley and Bowes, pains are taken to divide a series of Satsuma specimens—representing for the most part a period of about twenty years—into three sections, which are distinguished as Old, Middle, and Modern, but which in reality represent nothing more than different degrees of medication. In truth, those "evidences of age" which the amateur is so much disposed to trust, are of all things most deceptive. The first impression their presence produces should be one of suspicion. Steeping in strong infusions of tea, boiling in decoctions of yasha and sulphuric acid, or exposure to the fumes of damp incense, are methods thoroughly appreciated and constantly practised by the Japanese dealer, but so little understood by collectors that places of honour are often accorded to specimens still besmeared with the sediment of the drug used to discolour them. Until the bric-à-brac buyer has acquired ability to distinguish between the results of doctoring and the traces of time, he will do well to remember that, as a rule, the best things are the most carefully preserved, especially in Japan, where objects of virtu not only pass a great part of their existence swathed in silk or crêpe wrappers and hidden away in the recesses of a storehouse, but are also cleansed repeatedly from every stain of use.
What is the charm which has justly placed the old Satsuma-yaki at the head of all Japanese faience? The question is well answered by Messrs. Audsley and Bowes when they say that "in the entire range of keramic art there has been no surface produced more refined in treatment or more perfectly adapted to receive and enhance the value of coloured decorations, than that presented by the best specimens of old Satsuma faience." One might almost suppose that the idea of this ware had been inspired by the exquisitely harmonious effect of gold decoration upon ivory mellowed by age. The Satsuma surface, however, is even superior to ivory, for its network of minute crackle produces a play of light that greatly enhances its charms. It is for this surface that the collector should look. If he seeks wealth of decoration only, he can suit himself best among the imposing and often beautiful manufactures of the present day. In older pieces it will always be found that the artist, recognising the beauty of the ground upon which he worked, took care that it should not be unnecessarily hidden. In modern specimens, on the contrary, the decoration too frequently serves to conceal the imperfections of the surface to which it is applied; and the surface, where it is allowed to appear, is usually "treated" to impart stains which do duty for the mellow tint of former times. Some critics claim that nothing substantial has been lost by abandoning the chaste canons of early years, since the more elaborate style now in vogue affords the artist wider scope. But even if the advantages of increased glitter and extended range of subject be conceded to the modern school, the merit of superior technique remains to the old. Small pieces of early-period Satsuma, such as cups, incense-holders, tea-jars, etc., etc., often exhibit embellishment which, while in richness of effect it will bear comparison with the most ornate of the later designs, shows greater accuracy of execution and much more skilled use of enamels. The connoisseur will generally find, in examining a vase painted for the foreign market, that however much labour has been bestowed on the body of the piece, the less prominent portions are somewhere defective, and that whereas lustreless pigments predominate on modern examples, the decoration of the old consisted chiefly of pure, jewel-like enamels. The original style was certainly more calculated to encourage mechanical precision; for when an artist's choice of design is limited to flowers, foliage, diapers, frets, and occasionally a Howo, Kirin, or Shishi, he is constrained to pay attention to details which in a more ambitious subject become points of secondary importance. The whole matter, indeed, resolves itself into this: the methods of past days were entirely decorative, while those of the present frequently aim at pictorial effect. There can be little doubt which is the more truly artistic, having regard to the object in view.
Enough has probably been said on the subject of quality of pâte and glaze, fineness of crackle, and the use of enamels, to enable the amateur to distinguish with tolerable certainty between new and old Satsuma wares. As to colours it may be added that the modern decorator generally employs a lighter and more washy red than the opaque Indian red of his predecessors. This red was the only pigment in the palette of former times, all the other colours, gold and silver of course excepted, being enamels. They were green, blue, purple, black, and yellow. The last three are seldom employed now, and if used at all, are more likely to appear as pigments than as enamels. The green enamel of the present day is not inferior to that of the early potters, but the blue is distinctly impure,—a dull, muddy tone. Modern decorators have also added a half-colour, pink, the presence of which indicates a period not older than the Tempō era (1830–1843), and may usually be taken as showing a much more modern date. But while noting these distinctions, it has to be again observed that when the modern decorator finds sufficient inducement to put forth his full strength—as, for example, when his object is to produce a faithful imitation of an old specimen—his work does not fall far short of the best standards. Therefore the only certain criterion is quality of pâte and glaze.
In the case of the polychromatic or monochromatic wares of Chōsa, not alone the peculiar glazes, but also the fine, iron-red pâte is easily recognised after a little experience. Another guide in identifying a Satsuma, or Chōsa, tea-jar (chatsuho) is the ito-giri; a mark left on the bottom by the thread which the potter used to sever the piece from the clay out of which it was modelled. This mark is generally found upon Japanese tea-jars, but since the Korean workmen who settled in Satsuma turned the throwing-wheel with the left foot, while potters at other factories turned it with the right, it will be readily understood that the spiral of the Satsuma thread-mark is from left to right, and that of other factories from right to left.
Pure white faience, sometimes cleverly moulded or reticulated, was a favourite production of the ancient Satsuma potters, and has proved a fertile source of deception in modern times. For these unadorned pieces, though they possess little value in the eyes of uneducated Western collectors, need only to be tricked out in gold and coloured enamels and steeped in some soiling decoction. Thus they are transformed into specimens of "old Satsuma," concerning which the wily dealer can always direct a customer's attention to the plainly old pâte, and by that inimitable feature silence criticism of everything else. One scarcely cares to calculate how many "gems" of Satsuma-yaki which now occupy places of honour in European and American collections, belong really to this hybrid category. Further, to satisfy the demands of foreign taste, there has sprung up of late years in Japan a class of keramic decorators who reside at the Open Ports, and there, receiving from the provinces consignments of plain white faience and porcelain, embellish them with paintings of all kinds, the main object in every case being profusion of ornament and brilliancy of effect. These artists not infrequently put their seal or name upon a vase which has passed through their hands.
So far, in speaking of the Satsuma craquelé faience, mention has been made only of pure white and of enamelled wares. But these were by no means the limit of the potter's productions. His range was large. Among the most beautiful but least known of his pieces were yellow and apple-green monochromes. Sometimes a specimen is splashed with red showing metallic lustre, and sometimes a cup might easily be mistaken for Delft ware. Again, though more rarely, the collector is surprised by pieces of Satsuma faience decorated with blue sous couverte.
The reader will have observed that the special order given by the Prince of Satsuma for the manufacture of enamelled faience at the close of the eighteenth century, was addressed to the potters of Tadeno. It does not appear that faience of this description was produced at the Nawashiro-gawa factory until about 1840. At that time one of the most distinguished workmen was Boku Seiki. His son, Seikuan, had long been ambitious to develop the decorative methods of the factory. The matter having been brought to the notice of the superintending officials, a special section was created for the purpose, and two experts were procured from Tadeno. Under their instruction Seikuan acquired such skill that, in 1844, he was appointed superintendent of the Nishiki-de (brocade ware) section. In 1855 Prince Tomoyoshi caused a kiln to be erected within the grounds of his residence at Shimizu-machi, Kagoshima, and Seikuan was summoned thither as chief decorator. Faience of great beauty and most delicately executed decoration was produced at this factory. Seikuan was handsomely rewarded, and on his return to Nawashiro-gawa the manufacture of "brocade" ware at that place received a new impulse.
Mention should be made here of a variety of faience the production of which dates from the time (1795) of the visit paid by Hōkō and Chiubei to Kyōtō (see supra). Both the pâte and the glaze of this ware are brown or grey. Its peculiar feature is that the glaze, instead of being simply crackled, takes the form of a multitude of tiny segments, not globular but flat. This faience is called Same-yaki from the resemblance which its granulated surface bears to the skin of a shark. The condition of the glaze results from contraction in the process of firing.
It will be seen, from what has been stated above, that various kinds of clay were mixed to obtain the pâte of the Satsumi-yaki. An analysis of some of these clays, as well as of the lixiviated wood-ash employed in manufacturing the glaze, has been made by Professor R. W. Atkinson, with results shown in the table on the following page.
It is evident that with these materials a ware very closely resembling genuine porcelain could have been manufactured, and, indeed, among the products of the Nawashiro-gawa and Tadeno kilns, specimens are found which possess hardness and translucency nearly entitling them to rank with fine porcelain. It would seem, however, that these were the result of accident rather than of deliberate effort. The potters of Nawashiro and Tadeno never set themselves the task of manufacturing porcelain. The first person to undertake such work in the Satsuma fief was Ono Genriu-in, or Genriu-bo, a priest, who resided at Nishi-yoda in the Chōsa district of Osumi province. Ono was an ardent virtuoso. Perceiving that although the Satsuma fief possessed potters of ability, local consumption was chiefly supplied by wares imported from
NAME OF CLAY
| Nara- Ash. |
Matsukubo. | Kirishima. | Kaseda. | Neba. | Bara. | |||
|
02.82 | 01.67 | 00.70 | 00.46 | 01.93 | 01.51 | ||
|
00.51 | 11.97 | 10.85 | 01.18 | 11.74 | 07.09 | ||
|
08.405 | 60.72 | 59.42 | 77.15 | 51.79 | 60.30 | ||
|
04.785 | 22.68 | 27.90 | 13.50 | 30.91 | 27.62 | ||
|
03.300 | — | — | 00.94 | 01.13 | — | ||
|
42.765 | 00.48 | 00.13 | 00.83 | 00.49 | 01.02 | ||
|
02.415 | 00.65 | 00.26 | 00.62 | 01.17 | 00.46 | ||
|
00.74 | 01.02 | 00.61 | 03.34 | 00.65 | 00.70 | ||
|
00.215 | 00.82 | 01.01 | 01.85 | 00.34 | 01.18 | ||
|
34.145 | — | — | — | — | — |
Hizen, he conceived the idea of establishing a kiln for the manufacture of porcelain. A capitalist was easily induced to embark in the enterprise, as also was an amateur keramist of some skill, Noda Kichiemon. Information as to the methods of porcelain manufacture was supplied by a potter called Kitamura Denzaemon, who had once been employed at the Sarayama factory in Hizen and was now working in a mine. After some preliminary essays on a small scale, official permission was obtained to establish a kiln, and a considerable grant of money was made by the prince of the house of Shimazu. These things happened in 1661. Two years later, Noda and the capitalist withdrew from the enterprise, concluding that it could never become remunerative. The factory was not closed, however. Its subsequent history will be referred to by and by. Here it will be sufficient to note that in 1663 this first attempt to manufacture porcelain in the Satsuma fief came to an end, the reason assigned for the failure being the expense of procuring materials from the distant island of Amakusa, which possessed the nearest beds of porcelain stone. More than a century elapsed before another attempt was made, this time by Kawara Juzaemon, a potter of Tatsumonji. In 1779 he commenced the manufacture of porcelain after the Arita style, but although his technical and artistic success was good, he was unable to find any market for his wares. About the same period another potter, Imai Giemon, residing at Shirawa-machi, Hirasa, in the Satsuma district, set up a porcelain factory at Wakimoto, in the same province, but failing in his enterprise owing to want of means, he returned to Shiramachi and told his story to Ichiji Danemon, head man of the district. The project was now taken up officially, and a factory was established under Giemon's superintendence at Sarayama, in the Tenshin district of Satsuma. Experts were obtained from Hizen, and by using the celebrated stone of Amakusa in combination with local materials, a porcelain of considerable merit was produced. It is not likely that many fine specimens of this ware exist. Such rare examples as are met with show that the pâte closely resembles that of the Hirado-yaki; that the glaze is softer and whiter than that of Imari, and that the enamelled decoration is rather bold and artistic than brilliant and elaborate. After the abolition of feudalism (1868) the factory passed into the hands of Watanabe Shichiroemon; the use of vitrifiable enamels was discontinued, and only blue-and-white porcelain of a coarse kind was produced.
Three specimens of Satsuma porcelain masses have been analysed with the following results:—
SATSUMA PORCELAIN MASSES
| Silica. | Alumina. | Iron Oxide. |
Lime, Posash, etc. |
Water. | |||
|
79.13 | 15.73 | 0.32 | 3.82 | 0.91 | ||
|
76.11 | 17.49 | 1.41 | 5.20 | 0.51 | ||
|
74.54 | 19.08 | 1.08 | 4.95 | 1.07 |
These three masses are made of first, second, and third quality Amakusa stone, respectively. The porcelains obtained from the second and third specimens were of impure colour and coarse grain; that obtained from the first specimen was of a beautiful white colour, very transparent, and of granular fracture. From analyses made by M. Korschelt it appears that the constituents of Satsuma porcelain are felspar 19.31, clay substance 30.37, and quartz 48.28.
The composition of the Satsuma clays has been given above. An analysis of the faience mass, by Mr. Korschelt, shows the following results:—
SATSUMA FAIENCE MASS
| Silica. | Alumina. | Iron Oxide. |
Lime, Posash, etc. |
Water. | |||
|
63.67 | 30.04 | 0.38 | 2.91 | 3.52 |
This mass was found to consist of two volume-parts of Kaseda white sand; one volume-part of Kirishima white clay; one of Yamakawa clay, and one of Matsuga-kubo clay. The faience produced was nearly white in fracture, its yellowish tinge only becoming noticeable on comparison with the fracture of porcelain.
It is necessary to return for a moment to the story of Ono Genriu-in. In 1663 his attempt to inaugurate the manufacture of Satsuma porcelain failed. He then applied his attention to faience, devoting all the money he possessed or could obtain to the maintenance of the Nishi-yoda kiln. In 1665 he was able to present twelve varieties of pottery to his feudal lord, and in consequence of this success he was nominated a Director of Keramic Industry. By-and-by the local authorities established a warehouse in Kagoshima, under Genriu's control, for the sale of his potteries; and in 1684 he had the honour of being directed to supply ware twice a year to the house of Shimazu. Genriu died in 1690, but before his death he had the satisfaction of seeing his wares widely patronised, and over thirty families of potters engaged in their manufacture. He did not, however, make any noteworthy addition to keramic processes. The only ware distinguished as Genriu-yaki was faience having hard, reddish pâte and dark brown glaze run in globules, after the fashion of the well-known Chosa ware of Hōchiu. For the rest, the description already given of Hōchiu's faience applies in the main to that of Genriu, except that the latter was technically inferior. At the end of the eighteenth century the Nishi-yoda factory was closed, and the workmen moved to Tatsumonji, where Ono Saiemon, sixth in descent from Genriu, now prosecutes his trade. It may be mentioned here that the potters of Tatsumonji employ the following materials in the manufacture of their faience, viz.: For the faience mass, five parts by weight of the clay found at Kurogaki, in the vicinity; three parts of a yellowish clay found at Iimori, in the Nishibippu district; one part of the black earth of Hiroda, also in the Nishibippu district; and one part of the red earth of Moto-gokuraku, in the Takeko district. For the glaze, the sand of Sakimori and the clays of Bippu-mura and Oyamada-mura are employed.
The family of the celebrated Hōchiu, originator of the Chōsa faience, is now in its ninth generation, the present representative being Kawara Gensuke, who carries on the ancestral occupation at Tatsumonji. The factories at this place suffered greatly by the abolition of feudal government in 1868. Deprived of the patronage which they had so long enjoyed, not more than sixteen out of forty families of potters could continue their trade. That this period of difficulty did not end in the complete prostration of the industry appears to have been chiefly due to Gensuke's exertions. Persistently encouraging his fellow workmen, he succeeded at last (1882) in opening a trade with Tōkyō, Yokohama, and Kobe, the result being that the potters of Tatsumonji are now in a comparatively flourishing condition. But they no longer exhibit the skill of former times in the production of coloured glazes. The demand for choice specimens of such faience has practically ceased, and their staple manufactures, whether decorated with vitrifiable enamels or in the style of the old Hōchiu faience, are destined chiefly for common use.
The family of Hōkō, who did so much for the renaissance and development of the Tatsumonji-yaki in the latter part of the eighteenth century, is now represented by Kawara Juzaemon; while Kawara Tobei's line is represented by Kawara Kintaro and Kawara Yahei.
As to Nawashiro-gawa, the principal potter at present is Chin Jūkan, twelfth descendant of Chin Tokichi, the Korean who has already been mentioned as a contemporary of Boku Heii. In 1858 Jūkan was appointed head of the Government factory at Nawashiro-gawa. At that time hundreds of workmen were employed under him, and the manufacture was conducted on a large scale. But in 1868, when feudalism was abolished, the factory had to be closed. Subsequently it was opened under the auspices of a company; Jūkan's services being still retained as superintendent. In 1874 this company failed, and the potters employed by it were reduced to a state of destitution. Jūkan then set up on his own account, assuming the art name of Giokozan. He took several of the indigent potters into his employ, and succeeded in reviving the manufacture of the celebrated Nishiki-de Satsuma faience. Two years later, a number of the old potteries at Nawashiro-gawa were re-opened under the auspices of a new company, the Tamanoyama Kaisha. Of the present state of the industry and the methods of the potters, an excellent account is given in a paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, by Sir Ernest Satow, K.C.M.G., His Britannic Majesty's Minister, in Peking, the ablest of Japanese Sinologues. Mr. Satow writes thus:—
The kilns are built up the face of a hill in parallel rows. Each is divided into a number of chambers with openings in the intervening partitions to allow of the passage of flame and hot air from the lower end of the kiln right up to the head, and there are apertures in the side of every compartment, a larger one for the ware to be passed in and out by, which is of course closed during the firing, and a smaller one through which the workmen in charge can watch the progress of the baking. The fuel is placed in the lowest chamber, which is about six feet square, and consists of split pine logs about two feet in length and a couple of inches in diameter. Two hundred and fifty or sixty bundles of wood are required for a single firing, which usually lasts about thirty-six hours. No stands are used for the brown earthenware while it is being baked, but the articles are piled on each other, every second one being upside down; they consequently adhere together slightly when brought out of the kiln, but a slight tap with a piece of wood is sufficient to separate them. Between the heavier pieces, such as the large jars used for packing tea, small bits of dry clay are inserted to keep them apart. The glaze is put on by immersion, the article, as for instance a teapot, is dipped into the liquid upside down, in such a manner that very little gets inside, and then being quickly reversed, is set on its base, so that the glaze flows down pretty equally all round. When dry the glaze is of a yellowish-gray opaque colour, and it is put on before the article is subjected to any process of firing.
The material used for the finer kind of earthenware, that is, saishiki-de or painted ware, and nishiki-de, into the decoration of which gold enters as well as colours, consists of white clay from three localities, namely, Mount Kirishima, Ibusuki, and the gold mine at Yamagano, of white stone from Kaseda and Kushiki, and of white sand from Kominato. Ibusuki supplies in addition a second kind of clay, called bara, which is said to be very brittle, and no doubt is the ingredient which gives somewhat of the character of porcelain to certain pieces of the ware. The Kaseda stone is used also for glazing when powdered and mixed with the ashes of nara wood (Quercus glandulifera), or some other sort of hard timber.
The clay and stone are well pounded, soaked in water, and passed several times through a fine sieve placed over a receiver. The minute particles which settle at the bottom are then taken up and dried on boards. To this process is given the name of midzu-boshi, or water-drying, and it is common to all branches of the manufacture. For the fine white earthenware four kinds of clay, together with bara and white Kaseda sand, which have been previously subjected to midzu-boshi, are mixed in certain proportions known to the experienced workman. Lumps of this stuff are placed upon wooden blocks, and pounded with hammers to the extent of about three thousand blows, by which it is brought into the state of raw material; but, previously to being actually converted into clay for the potter's use, it requires about three thousand blows more. It is considered to improve in quality the longer it is kept.
The kilns in which nishiki-de and saishiki-de are baked are one-celled, and built of clay upon a foundation of brick, with walls about six Japanese inches thick. Fire is kindled in the mouth of a passage which projects from the front of the kiln, and the hot air passes up this to the chamber, where it can circulate freely round the muffle, in which the biscuit is deposited. The largest of these kilns have the following dimensions:—
| EXTERNALLY | INTERNALLY |
Height 5.5 feet (Japanese measure). Diameter 4.5 feet. Height of hot-air passage 5.0 feet. |
Height 4.5 feet. Diameter 3.5 feet. Height of hot-air passage 1.2 feet. |
| Width 0.9 feet. | |
A space of four inches in width is left between the muffle and the inner wall of the kiln. For nishikide three firings are necessary; first, the su-yaki, after which the glaze is put on; secondly, the honyaki, after which the piece is painted and gilded; and thirdly, slow and gradual firing, which develops the colours; the durations being twenty-four, forty-eight, and ten hours respectively. During the last firing the temperature is observed from time to time through an aperture near the top, the test employed being a piece of pottery marked with various pigments, which gradually assume the desired tints as the heat increases.
A memorandum drawn up by an official of the Kagoshima prefecture, for presentation to the Commission which presided over the Industrial Exhibition held last autumn in Yedo, gives the composition of the pigments used for producing the various colours of the fine Satsuma wares. Dr. Edward Divers, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry at the Imperial College of Engineering, has kindly examined specimens of these materials in Yedo, and has furnished me with their English names. The mixtures for the various colours are as follows:—
Red—Ground white glass, soft or lead variety (shiratama no ko); white lead (tō no tsuchi); colcothar or red oxide of iron (beni-gara)[2] and a silicious earth called hinōka tsuchi.
Green—Ground white glass; white lead; copper oxychloride (roku-shyō) and silicious earth.
Yellow—Ground white glass; red lead (kōmeitan); silicious earth and metallic antimony (tōshirome).
White—Ground white glass, silicious earth, and white lead.
Blue—Ground glass and smalt (a ground blue glass, the colour of which is due to a cobalt compound; the Japanese name is hana konjyō).
Purple—Ground white glass, white lead, and manganese.
Black—Ground white glass, white lead, an earthy manganese ore containing a little cobalt (wensei) and a very silicious carbonate of copper, apparently ground and elutriated malachite (shionuki-roku shyō).
At the pottery belonging to Chin Jūkan I saw a group being modelled in the white clay, which after baking and glazing assumes a light cream colour and becomes what is known as Satsuma crackle. These articles were intended to be decorated later on with gilding and colours. The potters here possessed only two old pieces of plain ware, a chōji-buro and a figure of a child playing with a diminutive puppy. The chōji-buro is a utensil formerly of two pieces, namely, a brazier and a boiler on the top of it, and is intended for distilling oil of cloves, though in practice it is used merely as an ornament. The artists were employed in modelling figures of Kwan-on and Dharma in white clay, with the conventional face and robes given to Buddhist personages, and toes all of the same length. A third was engaged upon a tiger, sitting up in a cat-like posture, intended to be two and a-half Japanese feet in height when finished. Most of their figures are modelled from drawings in Indian ink, but the coloured designs are laid on from memory. Until fourteen years ago a ware called Bekko-yaki was made at this village, the colours of which were intended to imitate tortoise-shell. It was a common ware, and used to be exported to Nagasaki in large quantities. A piece of this, said to be old, which was exhibited to me, had green blotches, as well as the two usual colours, yellow and brown.
At the Tamanoyama Company's establishment all sorts of ware are produced, common brown pottery, inferior blue-and-white, and highly gaudy crackle. Here I found a workman engaged in modelling a statuette of Christ after a sentimental woodcut in a religious periodical called the "Christian Observer;" he had copied the face and beard with considerable accuracy, but had draped the body and limbs in the robes of a Buddhist priest. Some stoves of brown earthenware, imitated from American iron stoves, were already ready for the kiln; their price was to be seven dollars delivered in Yedo. I saw also some huge white vases of monstrous shape, composed of hexagons, circles, squares, piled up as it were pell-mell, the result of an attempt at originality, unhampered by traditional notions of form.
The account given of themselves by the Kōrai jin (as they are called) is that all the inhabitants of the village, peasants as well as potters, are descended from Koreans brought over during the period Keihō (1596–1615) by a Satsuma samurai named Ijuin. Until about three years ago they wore their hair tied up in a knot at the top of the head, but most of them now wear the Japanese queue, or cut their hair in the style which has been introduced from abroad. They informed me that in former days they dressed themselves in their own costume on special occasions, as for instance when they went forth to salute the prince of Satsuma as he passed through their village on his way up to Yedo. One of the potters was good enough to put on this dress in order to give me an idea of the appearance which they presented. He began by drawing on a pair of wide trousers of dark blue silk, of a very delicate material, differing from the ordinary Japanese hakama in having a division between the legs, but tied on in the same way, that is, the front part was tied on by strings which passed round the waist, and then the back piece was fastened by strings in a double bow-knot in front. Next he threw over his shoulders a wide-sleeved mantle or haori of like colour and texture, the sleeves of which were not sewn up in pockets, as those of the clothes worn by adult Japanese usually are, and fastened it with strings on the right side of the waist. Finally, he crowned himself with a long conical black cap, edged with white. He also produced a broad-brimmed black hat, apparently woven of the stem of a kind of creeper. The knowledge of the Korean language is still kept up by some among them, whose duty it is to interpret between cast-away Korean junkmen and the Japanese officials. Before the destruction of the monasteries, the inhabitants of the village belonged to the Buddhist sect Tendaishu, which was no doubt that of their ancestors in their native country. At present they are under the protection of a Japanese deity, whose shrine, called Gyoku-san-Gū, stands on a hill south-west of the village. In front of the shrine stand a couple of lanterns of white ware with a blue design, presented by the potters belonging to sixteen out of the seventeen families, as may be seen by the names inscribed on the pedestals. The tombs in the cemetery, which lies at the side of the path to this temple, do not differ in any marked manner from Japanese tombs, which is what we should expect to find, as the style of sepulchral monuments in Japan is essentially Indian-Buddhist, and most likely derived through Korea. It appears that these people marry freely amongst themselves, identity of surname not being considered an obstacle as it is in China, but seldom intermarry with Japanese, except they be members of the samurai class. I gathered, in fact, from the conversation of the villagers, that they considered themselves much superior to the aboriginal natives of the country to which their ancestors had been transplanted.Something has been said above to warn the collector that among specimens of so-called "old Satsuma" offered for sale he must expect to find an immense majority of spurious pieces. As this part of the subject has very practical interest, it may be well to briefly describe the various kinds of deception now commonly practised. First and most difficult to detect is faience of which the pâte is old and the decoration new. Numerous pieces of this have been sold at large prices during the past fifteen years; for the production of undecorated ivory-white ware at Nawashiro-gawa factories was very considerable before the Restoration (1868). When a specimen of white Satsuma-yaki comes into the hands of a dealer, his common practice is to send it to the atelier of a Tōkyō decorator. A number of these artists live in the capital. Their skill is admirable. In respect of delicate work and elaboration of detail, they suffer nothing by comparison with the best of their predecessors. Where they fail is in the preparation of enamels. Want of ability in this important branch of the decorator's art, or perhaps the necessity of economy, induces them to substitute pigments, the consequence being a loss of richness and brilliancy. When they do employ enamels freely, these seldom show the lustre, purity, and fine colour of the early potters' productions. Before receiving its decoration the faience has generally to be re-stoved, in order to remove all impurities. After decoration it must, of course, be stoved once more. The result of such treatment is that not only does the piece lose any mellowness due to age, but the regularity of its crackle is impaired, and much, if not the whole, of the ivory-like surface that constitutes the chief beauty of old Satsuma, disappears. The final process is to steep the specimen in tea or acid. It emerges stained, and covered in parts, sometimes entirely, with a network of black or dark brown crackle. A very little experience should enable amateurs to distinguish between the dingy look of this medicated ware and the soft mellow glow of the genuine Satsuma-yaki. Such experience, however, seems slow to come, for to this day numerous specimens of false Satsuma find ready purchasers in America and France.
In the second class of dealer's "treasures" pâte and decoration are both new. Much of this ware has genuine merits of its own, and is honestly sold on its merits. Ninety-nine pieces out of every hundred are decorated in Tōkyō or Kobe. The designs are elaborate. Figures are among the most favourite subjects: their flesh and drapery offer an easy field for employing the crude pigments of the modern decorator. There is usually a profusion of diapers, one object being to conceal, rather than to expose, the surface of the faience. Sometimes, especially in the case of pieces decorated in Kobe, the faience is not allowed to appear at all, being entirely covered with gold pigments and a little enamel. The best of these specimens are distinguished by miniature painting wonderfully fine and elaborate. When it is desired to simulate age, medication, roughness of decoration, and trituration with dirt are resorted to. Those who are capable of being deceived by such devices must buy their experience. It may help them, however, to know that the presence of a dull black or brown pigment in the decoration is an infallible sign of modern work.
The third class of wares often sold as "old Satsuma" are not Satsuma faience at all. They are manufactured in Kyōtō, Owari, or at Ota, near Yokohama. These will be noticed in their proper places. It will be enough to say here that the trade in them has virtually ceased.
The average number of specimens of genuine old Satsuma enamelled faience that have been offered annually for sale in Japan during the past fifteen years is probably from five to ten, and not more than one-half of these have left the country. These facts ought to teach collectors in Europe and America what to expect.
Readers who have followed the above history with care need scarcely be reminded that ivory-like craquelé faience, with decoration in gold and coloured enamels, is by no means the only Satsuma-yaki worthy of note, though Western collectors have hitherto concentrated their attention on it to the exclusion of other varieties. Even though the connoisseur confine himself to faience manufactured with the well-known white pâte of the Nawashiro workshops, he finds, in addition to enamelled surfaces, the four rare monochromes mentioned above; namely, apple-green, straw-yellow, pure black, and gold-dust black. Every one of these is beautiful and attractive. The charm of the green and yellow glazes is greatly enhanced by their minute crackle, and the soft lustre of the black will bear comparison with its Chinese rival. Owing to their exceeding scarcity, the first two kinds are almost beyond the reach of ordinary collectors, but examples of black glazes may be met with occasionally. In producing them, Saburo-hei, son of the celebrated Hōchiu, is said to have exhibited unique skill, but it should be noted that, in nine cases out of every ten, the pâte over which these black glazes are run is reddish brown in colour, and, though not less fine, is heavier than the pâte of the enamelled variety, while the glazes themselves arc without crackle. To the white-pâte class belongs also the remarkable tortoise-shell glaze, so little known outside Japan. Though, perhaps, less charming than curious, it exhibits wonderful technical skill, and is deservedly held in high esteem. Passing, then, to the characteristic reddish brown pâte of the Chōsa, Tatsumonji, and Tadeno factories, there are quite a number of glazes all showing delicate or rich effects of colour and all admirably manufactured and applied. Of these the rarest is the Jakatsu-gusuri, or glaze run in large globules, the earliest Chōsa-yaki. Descended from it is the Same-gusuri, or shark's-skin glaze, with a finely shagreened surface, light brown and somewhat dull. This last cannot be classed among the choice products of the Satsuma kilns. Very much commoner and more attractive is the Namako-gusuri, or flambé glaze, sometimes called Seto-gusuri, though it bears little real resemblance to the Owari faience. In this a rich brown, occasionally verging upon chocolate, is flecked or overrun with transparent blue or green. Then there is the tea-green variety, in which are included many shades of colour, olive, greenish brown, dead-leaf brown, and green fading into grey. In these the overglaze—for all the Satsuma-yaki now in question has two and even three superposed glazes—usually assumes the form of white flecking or splashing, but not infrequently the body-glaze is light brown and the upper glaze tea-green without any flecking. The glazes, though thin, are soft and solid, and nothing can exceed the skill with which they are applied. In a majority of cases they are run so as to leave uncovered a portion of the pâte at the lower part of the specimen, a tour de force most characteristic of the tea-green class. There is further the iron-dust glaze, brownish red with minute black spotting, often relieved by blue flecks or splashes similar to those of the Namako variety. This Tessha-gusuri is, on the whole, the most easily procurable. Its manufacture was carried down to the middle of the present century. Late specimens may be detected by their comparatively coarse, porous pâte and the crude appearance of their glaze. By recent connoisseurs the Namako variety has been distinguished as Satsuma Izumi, from the name of a factory in the north of the province where similar faience is even now produced. But the outcome of this kiln is coarse and altogether inferior to the faiences of Tatsumonji, Nawashiro, and Tadeno. In fact, the Izumi faience is among the cheapest and rudest wares of every-day use in Japan, whereas the varieties described above belong to a high range of keramic skill. Unfortunately, as is too often the case with respect to choice Japanese glazes, specimens of these fine wares are nearly always small and insignificant, as tea-jars, cups, saké-bottles, ewers, and censers.
Enough has already been said about Satsuma porcelain—generally known in Japan as Hirasa-yaki—and of faience having blue decoration sous couverte. These two varieties complete the list of fine Satsuma wares. There remain to be noted two descriptions, which, in addition to the scantness of their merits from an artistic or technical point of view, possess no claim to originality. They are Mishima Satsuma and Sunkoroku Satsuma. The former is copied directly from the Korean ware described in the preceding chapter, which derived its name from the fact that its decoration resembled the vertically disposed lines of ideographs in the Mishima almanack. It is hard, reddish brown stone-ware, the decoration effected by inlaying white slip in the pâte, and the glaze is light grey. Large jars of this faience are common objects in Japanese confectioners' shops; they present the aspect of pieces covered with corduroy. In some specimens the ugliness is relieved by horizontal lines, bands of stars, fringes of scallops, or decoration à gerbe. The ware belongs to the same type as the celebrated Yatsushiro-yaki, to be spoken of by and by, but having been manufactured solely for the most ordinary uses, little care was expended upon it. Occasionally the formal designs of the Mishima Satsuma are traced in black.
The second variety, or Sunkoroku Satsuma, is copied from a faience of archaic character manufactured near Aden, and valued by the Japanese for the sake of its curiosity and foreign origin. The pâte is stone-grey, tolerably hard, but designedly less fine than that of choice Satsuma wares. The glaze is translucid, and the decoration consists of zigzags, scrolls, diapers, and tessellations in dark brown obtained from the juice of the Kaki. The Indian affinities of this type are unmistakable. It is not without interest, but a somewhat coarse grey faience with purely conventional designs in dark brown certainly cannot boast many attractions. The original ware of Aden is, in some cases, redeemed from utter homeliness by a curious purplish tinge which the glaze assumes in places.
- ↑ See Appendix, note 4.
Note 4.—It will be well, perhaps, to warn collectors against elaborately modelled and highly decorated specimens of Imari porcelain which are placed upon the market by unprincipled dealers as examples of Kakiemon's work. There were several generations of Kakiemons, and the mere fact of ascribing a specimen to Kakiemon is sufficient to proclaim the ignorance or dishonesty of the description. As for the figures of richly robed females that have received this title in recent works on Japanese art, they are manifest forgeries.
- ↑ Dr. Divers informs me that benigara is a corruption of Bengal, whence this substance was formerly obtained.