Studio: international art (58.1913)

Reviews and Notices

silver wire, for the intricate and dextrous use of
which he has long been noted.

Mr. Namikawa has in recent years modified his
style of work considerably. The kind of work he
produced a dozen years ago involved an enormous
amount of labour and patience, but it did not
receive the appreciation it deserved, whereas a
vase like that here reproduced readily appeals to
the public, chiefly by reason of the pictorial effect
of the design, which they can understand and
appreciate. Recently he has resorted to a new
method in the application of the wire so as to
obtain the effect of a drawing in Japanese style;
by using a silver ribbon and hammering it to the
required shapes before application, all the pecu-
liarities of brush strokes are reproduced.

Ando Jubei and his brother Juju have been
devoting much of their time and energy to the
production of wares after the style of ancient
Chinese work, and have achieved much success;
they are, however, always urging their artists to
make improvements and produce something new.
One of the latest works turned out from their
workshop is a cloisonne cigarette box decorated
with a design of chrysanthemums (p. 170). The
petals and leaves of the chrysanthemum are first
cut through the silver foundation and then filled
in with transparent enamels—a method involving
great difficulty. They are paying very close atten-
tion to the improvement of the designs they use.
In this particular instance they have sought to illus-
trate an old story of a boy hermit who was fed by
a mysterious spring gushing from among chrysan-
themums in the heart of the mountains. It may
be mentioned that one of the efforts now being
made by the two Andos is to reproduce in the
cloisonless method, called i7iusen-jippo, the old
Chinese porcelain with all the effect of the soft
and pleasing qualities of the glaze.

One notable fact to be observed in the recent
development of cloisonne enamelling is that while
the demand for it among Americans and Europeans
has decreased, it has grown in favour among the
Japanese to quite a marked extent. SMppo is now
assuming an important place in the list of articles
used as presents among the Japanese. The nature
and subject of the designs, the general tone of the
ware, and the varieties of shapes and objects in
cloisonne work are gradually changing to suit the
tastes of home buyers, and recent developments
owe their origin to this fact. Harada Jiro.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

One Hundred Masterpieces of Painting. By John
La Faroe. (London : Hodder and Stoughton.)
2$s. net.—The plan of Mr. La Farge's latest
volume is certainly original, but it produces a
somewhat bewildering impression upon the mind
of the student, the arbitrary division into subjects
bringing into juxtaposition works of art that
belong to widely different periods and of greatly
varying aesthetic value. Thus amongst " Portraits
of Children " appear the Japanese interpretation of
Ko-Bo-Dai-Shi—whose quaint name signifies " the
broad religious great teacher "—Velasquez' Maids
of Honour, and one of Murillo's many renderings
of St. John the Baptist. In the so-called "Un-
known Portraits," meaning portraits of unknown
persons, De Keyser is bracketed between Antonello
da Messina and Rembrandt, and amongst "Por-
traits of Sadness" Raphael's Mass of Bolsena suc-
ceeds Melizzo da Forli's Sixtus IV, whilst in
"Dreams of Happiness" Rubens, Watteau, and
Puvis de Chavannes are grouped together. As
was inevitable, the letterpress accompanying this
heterogeneous collection of pictures is equally dis-
cursive, though here and there—as in the brief
section devoted to the Flemish Primitives—some
slight attempt is made to define the peculiarities of
a contemporary group of painters. Perhaps the
best essay is that in which occur the descriptions
of the portraits of themselves by Da Vinci and
Rembrandt.

A Catalogue of the Objects in Gold and Silver
and the Limoges Enamels in the Collection of the
Baroness James de Rothschild. By E. Alfred
Jones. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd.)
^7 is. net.—In this sumptuous folio are described
and illustrated some wonderful examples of crafts-
manship belonging to various periods from the end
of the fifteenth century till about the end of the
eighteenth. They represent a portion of the great
collection formed by Baron Carl von Rothschild,
at whose death, in r886, the entire collection was,
in pursuance of his testamentary directions, divided
among his five daughters, the four besides Baroness
James de Rothschild being Baroness Salomon de
Rothschild, Lady Rothschild, the Duchesse de
Grammont, and the Duchesse de Wagram. The
portion bequeathed to Baroness James de Roth-
schild, and forming the subject of this catalogue,
comprised, in addition to a few choice examples "of
Limoges enamels, a unique collection of gold and
silver articles chiefly of German origin, though the
craftsmanship of other nations, such as Spain,

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