The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
A E CATALOGUE.
Prof. Morse's Monument of Industry
and Deep Tradition.

."rt-e .FN
Boston Letter in New York Mail and Elk
press.
What / think is destined to be one of the
most celebrated pieces of c~ataloguing in
existence has been completed at the Bos-
ton Museum of Fine Arts. and is now on
The presses at the Riverside Press. 1t is
Professor Edward S. Morse's catalogue of
the Morse collection of Japanese pottery.
Upon it Mr.. Morse has been employed
continuously for fully twenty years.
The collection itself is quite famous. Mr..
Morse sold 1t to the museum here for &c.
co.,, after he had been offered $1,000 more
by the museum at Chicago. 1t is admitted
ly the best collection in the world, in the
respect that it is the most illustrative of
the whole range and history of Japanese
ceramic art, untouched by foreign mer-
camille influences. Mr.. Morse. who is first
CT all a Z%oologist, lived in Japan several
years as professor of his science at the
Imperial University at Toxic. Ceramics
Were a fad with him; he was a born col
lector, and he set at work TO make a really
representative collection of the pottery of
Japan.
He visited every part of Japan in this
work, and, after a while, his fad became
his life work. All sorts of facilities were
given him by his friends of the Japanese
government. The result. in time, was this
collection, and the Importance of it was SO
great that when, several years ago, Har-
ward University got around TO giving him
\ tiC oC6l0C VI VI II S&kS IL "
him not only for his geological and other
scientific researches, but for his m'ictilia
Japonica;" so that he is to-day the only
Master Of Arts in the world whose degree
contains a reference to bric-a-brac.
At any rate Professor Morse, though he
has not abandoned geological pursuits, be-
ing still the director of the Peabody Mu-
scum at Salem and an occasional writer
Of memoirs on geological subjects, is, first
Of all, a Gevotee of the science of pottery.
He is officially the keeper of his own col
lection in the museum; he has made addi-
tons to il, and regards it as still incom-
plete.
His work in cataloguing the collection
has simply been enormous. The catalogue
contains a pictured representation of every
piece of pottery in the collection. The col
lection is placed in forty numbered cases,
each case seven and a half feet high and
five feet wide, and closely packed. The
catalogue has a photogravure plate Of each
of these cases. An outline guide plate,
drawn by the author, accompanies each
photogravure plate, and the outlines of the
dishes are each numbered, the number be-
Tag the one which the piece bears In the
collection and also in the catalogue.
In the text the history of each piece is
given in connection with this number-the
makers name, the province and place in
which he worked. and the mark. in Chinese
or Japanese characters, which he put upon
the dish. In this text each potter's name
is accompanied by the number of the case
in which his work may be found.
These marks in Chinese have involved an
immense amount of work. Mr.. Morse had
to know these potters' marks or signatures
and what they meant, and be able to give
q correct account of them. There are 1.54F
separate ones in his catalogue. The col
lections, the catalogue number OF which
runs TO 1914, practically includes the work
not only of every known family of potters
liz japan, but OF all the generations OF
each family and their collateral branches
and the catalogue must give the various
marks used by all Of thesei And all of the
pieces and marks must be correctly attrib-
uted. Mr.. Morse himself says that he has
made incorrect attributions, but nobody
believes that any authority will ever arise
that will possess erudition to find out his
mistakes, if there are any, except by acct
dent.
The interest of this catalogue which vii
be published by the Museum OF Fine Arts
In an edition of fifty, about the first OF
the coming year, for the general public
lies largely IN the fact that 1t will sup
ply a means of afordingt to amateur col.
lectors information as to their collections
1t contains induces of provinces, potteries
piece of japanese pottery may make a
rubbing OF IT and send this to some jap.
anese student for comparison with this
catalogue, and IL this collection possesse.
q similar mark reference to IL by the cata.
logue number will be attained.
Professor Morse himself is In a state O,
cheerful jubilation over the completion OF
this monumental work Of his. Always a
light-hearted man, interested In every hu.
man or animal thing that anybody else
Is interested In. and Astounding in wisdom
as we'll as in humor, he IL very popular
at the clubs, and really enjoys a great
acquaintance He gets nothing but glory
out of his catalogue. having no pecuniary
| inter est In H.: his work on 1t Is practically
q labor Of love.