1000 CONGEESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



ceramic art there has been no surface pr'oduced more refined or more perfectly 

 adapted to receive the colored decoration so famous in the Satsuma faience." 



The specimens of the Satsuma faience which are sometimes met with, heavily deco- 

 rated with religious or heraldic designs, most probably received their finish in the 

 Kioto school. The pure Satsuma is, in most cases, finished in floral designs in com- 

 bination with birds, with occasional medallions in geometrical figures emblematical 

 of some sentiment. 



The imitation Satsuma, manufactured at Awata, in Hizen, and decorated in Tokyo, 

 is easily detected, the pure Satsuma being somewhat roughly potted, and generally 

 of a hard and rather grayish- white body; while the faience of the Awata ware is 

 most carefully manipulated, and is of a fine, soft texture, of a warm creamy or pale- 

 yellow tint, covered with a thinner or more minute crackle glaze than that applied 

 to the pure Satsuma. It is also more profusely decorated, and heavily ornamented 

 with storks, tortoises, dragons, and birds of various kinds in heavy imitation of gold, 

 and enameled in gaudy tints. Samples of this class of work are illustrated in plates 

 38, 39, 40, and 42 of Audesley and Bowes's Keramic Art of Japan, and are very fine 

 specimens, although not Satsuma. 



The pure Satsuma is of a very light tint, ranging between grayish-white and vel- 

 lum or light cream color; the imitations are mostly in a buff color or light yellow. 

 At a very early period a black ground was resorted to, but not long followed. A 

 few specimens of this are now in existence. 



The ware known as Arita, Imari, Nagasaki, etc., are all manufactured in the 

 Province of Hizen, and mostly exported from Nagasaki, but little or none is manu- 

 factured in that town. The great Hizen vases, such as were exhibited at the expo- 

 sition at Vienna and at Paris (specimens may be seen in the vestibule at the Corcoran 

 Art Gallery), are made at Arita, in the Province of Hizen, and are known as Hizen 

 manufacture. Their great fault is too much crowding in the decoration and great 

 want of taste. This style still clings to this class of keramic art. 



Of the fine specimens of blue under a glaze, so much admired by connoisseurs in 

 the pure Hizen manufacture, there are two in vases in this collection — Nos. 130, 131. 



Symbolical combinations. 

 (See " The Mikado's Empire," p. 581.) 



The combination of trees, flowers, and birds on the Japanese porcelains, screens, 

 etc., are symbolical of some sentiment — as, for instance, the pine tree and the stork, 

 emblems of longevity. They are seen embroidered on silk robes, and presented to 

 newly born infants. 



The willow and the swallow, the bamboo and the sparrow are indications of 

 gentleness, and are often seen on screens and fans. 



The young moon and the cuckoo, the bird as seen flying across the crescent, has a 

 poetic reference to a renowned archer, who shot a hideous beast having the head of 

 a monkey and the claws of a tiger. 



The Phcenix bird (Ho- wo or Ho-ho), with the Paulownia Imperialis, as seen 

 embroidered on the Mikado's robes, rugs, curtains, gilded screens, etc., is an emblem 

 of rectitude. The leaves of this tree form the imperial crest. 



The red maple leaves and the stag are often painted upon their screens with great 

 effect. It signifies change — as, for instance, in the fall of the year the leaf changes to 

 a beautiful crimson, sometimes to a brilliant maroon, and when used upon their 

 screens and presented to another party may indicate a change of feeling or sentiment. 

 A lover to send his once loved a sprig of this autumn maple is equivalent to giving 

 her the mitten. 



