Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-07-13
Japanese Ware at the Exhi-
bitiOn.


bitiOn.
THE collection of porcelain and pot
terry which most powerfully impresses
the imagination of the American Wis
| itOr to the Exhibition, both from its
pompous splendor and the multiplicity
of articles, is that of Japan; and a
brief account does but scant justice to
a department that might tax the nara
tive powers of SchehereZade in the
"Arabian Nights adequately to de-
scribe. We are familiar with the pc
| cu1iarities of KiotO, Satsuma and Toxic
| porcelain and pottery, and know by
| heart the buff KiotO, with its brilliant
can tell at glance the blue OF red
! Japan porcelain, decorated with the IA
vOrite rose of chrysanthemum, for the
sight of them reaches us in every fine
china shop or private dwelling. But
| the Arita porcelain in the Japanese
collection is much more rare, and is
sumptuous and splendid beyond any
other. Here are displayed a variety of
acquered-porcelain forms-jars, vases
and other ObiectS-but chief among
them are two immense jars resembling
in shape elongated pineapples. They
are six or eight feet high, and graceful
and tall as palm trees. The color of
| the body of the vases is a bluiSh-white,
and this is covered closely with fine
blue pattern. The blue decoration
would have made them elegant with
out any addition, but this close pattern
forms but a background over which
! the japanese artist has elaborated
large forms in color, and lacquered
shapes sumptuous in the eXtreme-the
graceful necks of peacOcks swung
around the long necks Of the vases,
with sweeping tails that occupy nearly
half the length of the vases. They are
painted above the blue under-patten,
and gold inlaid in lacquer-work makes
the feathers of the tails, which is some
times FURNISHED brown gold, and in
other places red and green and pink
gold: while the eyes Of the peacocks'
tails show the blue of the under-pat-
tern beneath them. Tufts of palm
trees, very large, Of gold-lacquer,
shine like big stars upon the sides of
these vases, and are very conspicuous
above the under-color. The habit of
gliding, in Japan, with different cOlOrs
of gold is very splendid in its results,
for no substance combines better than
gold with other tones or cOlOrs. We
wish the custom might be adopted
here of mixing broken tones of paint
into our gliding, as in the case of these
Arita vases, where we see Streaks run
ming through the pure surface of the
metal that resemble the dust of YER
million or particles of emerald green or
rose madden.
Besides these superb jars, there is a
splendid collection of Whitish vases,
whose surface resembles the polish of
the inside of a shell. Not entirely fiat,
the glaze upon these articles is most
brilliant. But the chief attraction
consists of lovely leaves and flowers,
ivy and grape leaves, of natural colors,
and shaped and indented, veined and
| twisted, like those of nature. This
porcelain in its texture looks as if it
might consist of shell, and, though its
color is white, its glaze makes it rides
cent to the degree we often see III the
inside of an Oyster-shel. Some other
vases in this group are formed of blue
and gold frosted in rough surfaces, and
varied by white unglaZed ornaments.
In this collection there are no more
richly colored pieces of pottery or por-
celain than various old plates and COW
cred jars. Some irregularly shaped
bowls are here besides, as individual in
form as the primitive lamps in the
Cesnola collection at the Metropolitan
Gallery, that appear to have been bent
by the fingers into their pleasant forms.
These old articles, which are formed
of coarse, gray glazed porcelain and
pottery, dIe pdlnIeu Ill very ueep anu
rich maroons, green, sulphur-yellows,
and puppies, so dark that in places they
appear nearly black. The key-patterns,
or the little leaves that the colors form,
are OF the most irregular shape; and
this indication of their being hand
work gives them greater charm than
is derived from the most precise printed
patterns painted with stencil-plate
upon European china. The colors, too,
} are quite irregular III their depth of
tone, and green's run from a deep
, bronze color to pale apple-green iii
the same figure from no motive appar-
: emily, except that the designers brush