Japanese Lacquer. 253 
the metal work must be studied. Unrestrained by the necessity of 
copying nature, the Japanese artists can in this singular creation 
allow their imaginations free play, and to this, I think, can be 
attributed their almost unvarying success. The weakest point in 
Japanese art is perhaps the human figure. I think, however, 
failures in this direction are more apparent than real. Rigid 
rules, against which there was no appeal, compelled the artists 
to delineate it according to rules which had been observed for 
ages; but when about a century ago the popular schools, 
which took their inspiration direct from nature, arose, the human 
figure was treated (not perhaps according to our idea, as they 
prefer the grotesque rather than the elevated side of our nature) 
in a manner that the most correct anatomist might approve. 
Such efforts, however, are almost exclusively confined to carvings 
and paintings. 
It is impossible to say which branch of Japanese art is likely 
to prove most attractive to a collector. Lacquer, metal work, 
netsukes, or ceramics, all have their characteristic excellences ; 
in all the Japanese are intensely original. Lacquer ware charms 
us by its sumptuous beauty, and the poetical inspiration of its 
decoration. Metal work is often as rich in symbolism, while the 
religion, the legends, the folk-lore, the history, and even the 
nursery tales of the country, find in it more ample expression; 
but for puns and puzzles, jokes and riddles, humour and pathos, 
history and classic lore, the wood and ivory carvings known as 
netsukes are unrivalled. To whatever branch, however, atten- 
tion may be directed it is important te remember the advice 
tendered by the gifted Frenchman, Monsieur Bing :—* They 
alone can pretend to fathom the depth of feeling and beauty 
in an alien art who resolutely determine to scrutinise it from 
the point of view of an inhabitant of the place of its birth. 
This is a primary condition. If submission to it be refused 
—if it be intended to refer all manifestations of art, whatever 
they may be, to a common measure—that which the centuries 
have fashioned specially for the use of Western culture—it 
were better to omit entirely the study of what has been created 
away from ourselves.” 
