International studio (44.1911)

Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—I7I. Cloisonne Enamels

JAPANESE ART AND ARTISTS
OF TO-DAY. VI. CLOISONNE
ENAMEL-WORK. BY PROF.
JIRO HARADA.
There are two distinct qualities or types ex-
pressed in Japanese art: one suggesting endless
patience in the execution of minute detail, the
other denoting a momentary conception of some
fleeting idea carried out with boldness and freedom
of expression in form and line—profuse complexity
and extreme simplicity.* The people of the West,
finding these apparently inconsistent qualities
existing in old Japanese art, marvelled at the
former quality, and were fascinated by the latter.
While it is impossible to find either type applied
exclusively to any one class of work, it must be
admitted that certain branches of art industry are
more adapted for the expression of one of these
artistic qualities than the other. Like
damascene work and the decora-
tions on Satsuma ware, the work on
Japanese cloisonne ware generally ex-
hibits the quality suggestive of un-
wearying labour and patience.
Cloisonne enamels are known
amongst the Japanese by the name
of shippo, a contraction of two words :
shichi, denoting seven, and ho, meaning
treasures. Some authorities endeavour
to trace the term to an old Buddhist
book, discrediting the Chinese origin
on the strength of this particular ware
being referred to in some old Chinese
books as “ ware of devil’s country,”
suggesting thereby that they were of
foreign importation. However, it is
obvious that the name shippo has been
thought most appropriate in Japan, in-
asmuch as the exquisite beauty of the
work gave it the appearance of having
been wrought with the seven precious
things, commonly known to consist of
gold, silver, emerald, coral, agate,
crystal, and pearl. The term shippo
is used by Soami to record the fact
that AshikagaYoshimasa, in the second
quarter of the fifteenth century, had
considered it superior to inlaid work.
* The writer has endeavoured to point
out these two phases in Japanese art in
his article on “Japanese Temples and
their Treasures,” which appeared in the
January number of The Studio.

Many claim that the ware had been christened
shippo yaki by the Japanese, although it was
erroneously called oranda yaki, or Dutch ware, by
Kaji Tsunekichi and others, when a piece of it
falling into his hand led to his discovery of this
art after years of hard labour, and to the manu-
facturein 1832 (or 1839 according to some accounts)
of a plate six inches in diameter, the first piece of
modern cloisonne enamel as we know it to-day.
While the writer keenly feels the need of a com-
plete and systematic record of the development of
this art, no attempt will be made in this short
treatise to meet that want. Interesting as a
minute account of the modern struggle during the
last fifty years or so to develop shippo in Japan
might prove to be, it is not the intention of the
writer to make any effort along those lines. The
purpose of the present article is little more than to
set down a few observations which have occurred

ANDO JUBEl’s ENAMEL ARTISTS AT WORK


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