DOI Heft:
Nr. 212 (November 1910)
DOI Artikel:Harada, Jirō: Japanese art and artists of to-day, [4]: wood and ivory carving
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0125
Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—IV. IVood and Ivory Carving
TWO PANELS OF A WINDOW IN ST. SAVIOUR’S CHURCH, OXTON DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
(See preceding article, p. 102)
wife, wiih evident satisfaction and pride: “ See
what Christianity has done for the Japanese. It
is marvellous.” Indeed, it is marvellous !
To this class of people it is only necessary to
mention some of the objets d'art turned out by
the art craftsmen of Old Japan, and a visit to
the country itself would certainly open their
eyes to their mistaken idea. Even a fairly care-
ful examination of the Japanese exhibits in the
retrospective section of the Fine Arts Palace at
the Japan-British Exhibition at Shepherd’s Bush,
where art products of as early a date as the
seventh century of the Christian era have been
displayed this summer, would be sufficient to
convince one that Japanese art is not of modern
birth.
Indeed, it is with no little astonishment that
Western connoisseurs have learned of the mar-
vellous state of perfection and the high artistic
skill attained by Japanese artists and art craftsmen
in early times. The glyptic art of Japan reached
a high state of development in the eighth century.
Evidences in support of this statement are too
many to be enumerated here, but it will be
sufficient to mention a few pieces of the sculpture
of that century. The large bronze image, 53 feet
high, of a sitting Buddha, known as the “Nara
Daibutsu,” in the Todaiji, one remembers first,
mainly, perhaps, on account of the immense diffi-
culty involved in making such a cast. The four
clay statues of the Deva Kings, and another of
the Shikongo, are among the treasured relics of the
Todaiji; then the Hokkedo Trinity in dry lacquer
and the Eleven-Faced Kwannon, carved in wood,
and preserved in the Hokkeji, further show the
high attainment of the Japanese sculptors of that
period. Judged from the articles in the Shoso-in
collection, comprising more than three thousand
specimens, such as censers, mirrors, bells, musical
instruments, sculptures, vases, etc., it is conclusive
that the applied arts had reached a high stage of
advancement in the eighth century. It is upon
these grounds that Captain Brinkley declares:
“ While Occidental nations now in the van of
civilisation were still awaiting the impulse of
Byzantium art, which in the middle of the tenth
century inspired their earliest achievements in
artistic metal work, the Japanese were busily pro-
ducing many masterpieces of sculpture and
metallurgy.”
To be sure, there are others who believe that the
Japanese are born artists. Of course, the people of
Japan do not all claim to be artists with brush or
chisel, but we must acknowledge that their artistic
temperament is revealed in the warp and woof of
their history. It is, as it were, in their very being,
104
TWO PANELS OF A WINDOW IN ST. SAVIOUR’S CHURCH, OXTON DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
(See preceding article, p. 102)
wife, wiih evident satisfaction and pride: “ See
what Christianity has done for the Japanese. It
is marvellous.” Indeed, it is marvellous !
To this class of people it is only necessary to
mention some of the objets d'art turned out by
the art craftsmen of Old Japan, and a visit to
the country itself would certainly open their
eyes to their mistaken idea. Even a fairly care-
ful examination of the Japanese exhibits in the
retrospective section of the Fine Arts Palace at
the Japan-British Exhibition at Shepherd’s Bush,
where art products of as early a date as the
seventh century of the Christian era have been
displayed this summer, would be sufficient to
convince one that Japanese art is not of modern
birth.
Indeed, it is with no little astonishment that
Western connoisseurs have learned of the mar-
vellous state of perfection and the high artistic
skill attained by Japanese artists and art craftsmen
in early times. The glyptic art of Japan reached
a high state of development in the eighth century.
Evidences in support of this statement are too
many to be enumerated here, but it will be
sufficient to mention a few pieces of the sculpture
of that century. The large bronze image, 53 feet
high, of a sitting Buddha, known as the “Nara
Daibutsu,” in the Todaiji, one remembers first,
mainly, perhaps, on account of the immense diffi-
culty involved in making such a cast. The four
clay statues of the Deva Kings, and another of
the Shikongo, are among the treasured relics of the
Todaiji; then the Hokkedo Trinity in dry lacquer
and the Eleven-Faced Kwannon, carved in wood,
and preserved in the Hokkeji, further show the
high attainment of the Japanese sculptors of that
period. Judged from the articles in the Shoso-in
collection, comprising more than three thousand
specimens, such as censers, mirrors, bells, musical
instruments, sculptures, vases, etc., it is conclusive
that the applied arts had reached a high stage of
advancement in the eighth century. It is upon
these grounds that Captain Brinkley declares:
“ While Occidental nations now in the van of
civilisation were still awaiting the impulse of
Byzantium art, which in the middle of the tenth
century inspired their earliest achievements in
artistic metal work, the Japanese were busily pro-
ducing many masterpieces of sculpture and
metallurgy.”
To be sure, there are others who believe that the
Japanese are born artists. Of course, the people of
Japan do not all claim to be artists with brush or
chisel, but we must acknowledge that their artistic
temperament is revealed in the warp and woof of
their history. It is, as it were, in their very being,
104