The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-01-20
Japanese NeetlleIyorIt.

The beauties of Japanese nccdleworll
are, like those OF other art working from
that wonderful land, very far from being
rightly understood here by more than a
few; and, though a wave of fnshien has
swept numberlcss objects of Japanese art
into this country, their real merits arc as
yet but little appreciated. 1t must be re-
mcmhcrcd that Japanese work. like our
own, to he good, must conform to the rule
OIL art and also that, without knowing the
nature OF the objects represented, we arc
apt 10 Call objects strange and barbarous
which arc often cOnventionaisms and SYM
bols, meaningless TO us simply because we
DO not possess the key. Here the caution
against rash copying needs repetition. 1t
Is IN great measure To unintclligcnt imilu-
ton of The Japanese that we owe some of
the extraordinary productions of the last
few years. These show only one, and that
one of tho least important, of the character
istics OF good art-originality and the only
emotion they excite to the bchodcr is the
not very elevated one of amnzcmcnt.
The best specimens of Japanese needle
work are the cloths used rs covers for the
presents given by persons paying visits of
ceremony; these cloths are not given with
the presents thcy cover. but are family
hclrlooms, and good specimens are rarely
seen III Ibis country. The white birds on
black and satin ground, so often met
with, are done for the American market
they have many merits, but arc far inferior
to the work done by the Japanese for their
own honor and delight. Some rare picces
we have seen lately were excellent; the
grounds are satin of the deep, soft blue of
summer night, and the leading colors of
the embroidery arc gold, palc-bluc, and
white. Another piece VIC will describe in
detail as it gives n good idea of Japanese
excellence of design and arrangement. The
ground is scarlet mcrcen; of bright scar
let, yellow enough to harmonizc with the
gold that forms the principal color in the
embroidery. The subject is long flight of
storks, the sacred bird-not less than eighty
of them are flying upward in zigzag line,
the angles OF which arc very carefully stu.
died, from the bottom TO the top of the
picture. Most of these storks arc In white
silk, the direction of the stitches giving
much OF their form they are picked out
with the black, ard there is little pale
pink or pale ycllow-grcen in their bcaks
and legs. a few of them, perhaps one
fourth, are worked all In gold, representing
tho birds in shadow, or seen against tho
-.to'At1 o'.N VASoN i'hfO JlSClC vi IlO uCtull.
Each bird is distinct, separately drawn,
and having his own expression, mode of
flight, and position in the line. The rest
OF the space is filled by horizontal bars of
gold of varying widths, and groups of
stitches also in gold; these seem to in
dicate the flat sunset Clouds md the tops
OF tho distant trees passed over by the
storks in their flight
We have specially described this piece
OF nccdlowork because 1t so truely con-
forms to the rules of the art, and exhibits
the greatest richness, delicacy, and clabo-
ration within the strict limits of needle
work. There Is no shading, but tho forms
of the storks are accurately expressed by
the direction of the stitches as we'll as by
.hc color. Tho detail Is abundant where
the storks arc In light and Is expressed by
the varied aud manageable silks. The
truth that color and detail arc Loaf when
object arc seen against the light, is recog-
nized in the treatment Of the golden storks,
which are in flat shapes of plain gold. Any
attempt to give the varld colors and shapes
of the clouds would have interfered with