Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-11-25
ARTS IN JAPAN.
A DAT WITH TIE EXPERT JAPANESE
ARTIFICERs.
Tbs Craze for Curios in the L6ud Of the
MOrning--Cloisonns and Lac
quer Making.
Ipnstnn Herald.1

discover what the craze for japanese
"curios really is. The eecond thought,
IL not indeed the first, OF almost every
globe trotter Who comes TO tho Land OF
the Morning is 10 procure some Japanese
artistic antiquities. either to add to the
beauty aud interest of his own home
or TO excite the envy Of other col
lectors. The air is full of talk about
cold pieces" and cline bits and
magnificent specimens, and when two
tourists meet almost the first question
they put 10 each other is, Have you
bought much ?" Everybody buys some
thing, either new or old, and needless to
cay in many cases the former passes for
the latter How the new is made, how
ever. and by whom, or what chance
there is Of finding the old, and wherein
great value may consist, the vast ma
jority of travellers know nothing what
ever.
Ia riding about Tokyo you see a num-
Der Of shops exhibiting collections OF
curios and Jric-G-brac for sale, but these
are ffth-rate dealers to whom no expert
buyer ever thinks OF going, and their
collections are not much above those OF
our pa1nhrokers at home. Real objects
of art are never exhibited by the dozen
IN Japan, either 10y dealers or private
owners. A japanese gentleman keeps his
collection carefully packed awayin boxes
and cottonwood, and when he has
guest coming he selects a few, accord
ing TO the the OF year, the character OF
the rooms where no proposes TO place
them, and what he imaqnes to be the
taste OF his guest. A dealer keeps his
stock in freproof "go down attached
to his shop, and when you go to buy no
invites you upstairs to a private room,
arranC es cushions on the floor for You,
regales you with tea end sweetmeats, ex-
changes a series of compliments and
small talk, and after twenty minutes or
half an hour, he claps his hands and his
boys bring the pieces in one by
one, extracting each in turn from
its box and soft wrapper OF
old brocade OF cloth, and setting it be-
fore you. Your inspection over, 1t Is
delicately wrapped up again. Theses
boxes are beautifully made and are care
fully preserved with the inscriptions on
them and tho wrappers, all of which fur
nish some evidence of authenticity. The
dealer shows you what he likes, and docs
not seem TO care at all whether You buy
or not. And it is not much use to ask
him to show you any particular OBJ
jects the process is q kind Of cOllec-
tors lucky bag you must see them
as they come out of the warehouse. Nor
is it worth while, as you soon discover
to your surprise, to bargain with him,
except for articles OF considerable value.
II he shows you q screen for 5000 you
might offer him S4O0, and q few days
later it might be sent TO your house for
Sl5o; but you would probably waste
your time in Offering him Sij for q lac
quer tray priced at so. The dishonest
dealers are perfectly well known. and
few people trade with them except rich
travellers who like to be told that the
object before them is exactly what they
are looking for, while the honest dealers
are above suspicion of extortlOn.
AMONG woRKHEN.
It is equally true of the best modern
productions that you cannot see them In
quantity anywhere Tho makers Of
them are true artists in spirit, and TO zee
them work you must follow them home
and watch them executing commissions.
Under the guidance OF Captain Brinkley
spent two days among the artIlicers OF
days Of the keenest plea
sures of art study. Most OF those whom
we visited lived on the extreme outskirts
OF Tokyo. almost in the country, and
each in his little home, with two or
three pupils around him, worked
away under delightful circumstances
OF life, and under conditions giving the
freest scope to his own genius and fancy.
The only place we visited that rcsembled
q factory was where clOisonne enamel
was being made, and this unpleasant re-
hinder of homo was only due to the
fact that an order for these enemels for
the foreign market sufficient to occupy
several years had been recently received.
The process of making cloisonne is very
complicated. First, the plain copper
vase or bowl or tray is taken between
the knees of the workman, who ships
off bits of brass the sixteenth OF
an inch wide from a long roll before
him, bends them with tweezers, and
Clues them on edge 10 the copper, thus
the outlines and detail lines OF
the finished sketch lying before him.
An apprentice is putting the simple pat
tern in this way upon the fiat bottom OF
a tray, while the most skilful workman
is poring over the delicate lines OF the
eyes and feathers OF cock on plaque
This outline is next passed to table be-
tween two workmen, who fill up the in
terstices with enamel, still following
the colored original before them,
from fifty little cups OF colored
Then the work is fired,
again painted with enamels, again
fred, and so on till little is seen but
daub- like distant copy. This is then
polished down with the greatest care
until the shining edge of the brass strips
ia reached and at precisely the same
point tho same colors are perfect copy
Of tho painting. Cloisonne making is
labor Of the most minute kind added to
exquisite skill in the handling and com
bining Of pigments. The result in its
highest form is a painting more delicate
than water colors and more lasting than
brass. Formerly only geometrical and
decorative designs were thus made now
birds and fish and snow-scenes have been
reached
An ivory carver sat in his room, open
to his little garden, chiselling upon
tusk, from which the form
Of very graceful female figure was just
The ivory he held between .
his knees, while his tools were all spread .
out by his side. "HoW long viii this
take you ?" | asked. "About four
he replied. "And what is the .
between the value Of the ma
Ierial and the value Of the labor in such .
a work as this when completed 2" " L .
paid $40 for this piece of ivory, and
iour months work at s50a month is 800.
Total cost about $3.50 Est. Fancy
one OF the most skilful and original
articles in the world-for this mans
worries are admired evtrywhere-simply
his own labor At fifty silver
than eS-a month, while at
lome our great painters do not hesitate
n osk q fboucend o11inaae for a t,iafi1ra