DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0734
710
CHINESE ARCHITEGTUKE.
Book IX.
island of so monumental a character to deserve being dignified by
being classed among the true architectural examples of other countries.
It may be that the dread of earthquakes has prevented them raising
their buildings to more than one or two storeys in height, or con-
structing them of more solid materials than wood. It may be, how-
ever, that the Japanese do not belong to one of the building races of
mankind, and have no taste for this mode of magnificence. It is the
same story as in China; we shall not know whether it is true that
there are no objects worthy to be styled architecture in Japan till the
island is more scientifically explored than it has been; nor, if they do
not exist, shall we till then be able to say to which of the two above
causes their absence is to be ascribed. Such information as we have is
very discouraging; and it is to be feared that, though quaint and
curious in itself, and so far worthy of attention, it is of little
interest beyond the shores of the islands themselves. On the other
hand, it is to be feared that the extent of our knowledge is suffi-
cient to make it only too clear that the art, as practised in Japan,
has no title to rank with that already described in the preceding
pages, and consequently no claim to a place in a general history of
architectural art.
However admirable and ingenious the modern Chinese may be, it
is in the minor arts—such as carving in wood and ivory, the manu-
facture of vessels of porcelain and bronze, and all that relates to silk
and cotton manufactures. In these they certainly excel, and reached
a high degree of perfection while Europe was still barbarous, but in
all the higher branches of art they take a very low position, and seem
utter!}" unprogressive.
They have no poetry, properly so called, and no literature worthy
of the name. Their painting never rose much above the scale of
decoration, their sculpture is more carving than anything we know by
the higher name, and their architecture stands on the same low level
as their other arts. It is rich, ornamental, and appropriate for
domestic purposes, but ephemeral and totally wanting in dignity and
grandeur of conception. Still it is pleasing, because truthful; but
after all, its great merit in the eyes of the student of architecture will
probably turn out to rest on the light it throws on the earlier styles,
and on the ethnographic relations of China to the surrounding nations
of Eastern Asia.
CHINESE ARCHITEGTUKE.
Book IX.
island of so monumental a character to deserve being dignified by
being classed among the true architectural examples of other countries.
It may be that the dread of earthquakes has prevented them raising
their buildings to more than one or two storeys in height, or con-
structing them of more solid materials than wood. It may be, how-
ever, that the Japanese do not belong to one of the building races of
mankind, and have no taste for this mode of magnificence. It is the
same story as in China; we shall not know whether it is true that
there are no objects worthy to be styled architecture in Japan till the
island is more scientifically explored than it has been; nor, if they do
not exist, shall we till then be able to say to which of the two above
causes their absence is to be ascribed. Such information as we have is
very discouraging; and it is to be feared that, though quaint and
curious in itself, and so far worthy of attention, it is of little
interest beyond the shores of the islands themselves. On the other
hand, it is to be feared that the extent of our knowledge is suffi-
cient to make it only too clear that the art, as practised in Japan,
has no title to rank with that already described in the preceding
pages, and consequently no claim to a place in a general history of
architectural art.
However admirable and ingenious the modern Chinese may be, it
is in the minor arts—such as carving in wood and ivory, the manu-
facture of vessels of porcelain and bronze, and all that relates to silk
and cotton manufactures. In these they certainly excel, and reached
a high degree of perfection while Europe was still barbarous, but in
all the higher branches of art they take a very low position, and seem
utter!}" unprogressive.
They have no poetry, properly so called, and no literature worthy
of the name. Their painting never rose much above the scale of
decoration, their sculpture is more carving than anything we know by
the higher name, and their architecture stands on the same low level
as their other arts. It is rich, ornamental, and appropriate for
domestic purposes, but ephemeral and totally wanting in dignity and
grandeur of conception. Still it is pleasing, because truthful; but
after all, its great merit in the eyes of the student of architecture will
probably turn out to rest on the light it throws on the earlier styles,
and on the ethnographic relations of China to the surrounding nations
of Eastern Asia.