ENAMEL INDUSTRY. 493 



this may be that Shippo-yaki was not manufactured on the island 

 of Kiushiu and even in these days is seldom to be had there, even 

 in Nagasaki. 



Although the Chinese also make email champleve, the Japan- 

 ese have not followed them. Their older Cloisonne enamel is 

 quite as dull in colour as the Chinese, but amateurs of both give the 

 Japanese the credit of a bolder design and better execution. The 

 Chinese began also earlier to give brighter colours to their cell 

 enamel. Do the duller enamel colours of both nations correspond 

 to the taste — a better taste in the opinion of many — and did they 

 have their origin in this, or were these colours only a natural con- 

 sequence of the process of manufacture? European connoisseurs 

 and collectors of these old enamels are generally inclined to take 

 the first view, but on closer investigation of the earlier processes of 

 manufacture the cause seems to be found in that alone. 



The older Japanese Shippo-yaki has a foundation of thin em- 

 bossed copper, and for cloisons it has thin brass bands like those 

 used at present, some of which were made probably by beating or 

 by the rolUng of brass wire. Azure blue, yellowish green, and a 

 dirty white are its most common colours, but a Turkish blue ground 

 is generally used. In the newer work the groundwork is thicker 

 and the colours used seem far more abundant and brilliant, besides 

 filling up the cells much more evenly and perfectly. 



The process of the manufacture of Japanese Cloisonne enamel 

 is, as I had the opportunity to observe, everywhere essentially the 

 same. That of a factory at Ota, near Yokohama, where fifteen 

 years ago fifty persons were employed to apply the cell enamel to 

 vases, tea boxes, flat plates, dishes, and several other copper articles, 

 will serve as an example for all. 



The prepared dishes are provided with a brass edge folding over 

 the top towards the inner and outer side, and with a brass rim 

 soldered on at the foot. The decorations are sketched, generally 

 after patterns, with a white-lead varnish. The workman then 

 covers the pattern with a transparent pane of glass and places 

 on it the cells, which represent the contours of parts of flowers, 

 leaves, feathers, etc., or even of figures. These cells are to serve as 

 the ornament for the entire surface, and correspond exactly to the 

 picture pattern, with their narrow strips of brass, which are either 

 cast or bent by the workman, as he requires them, with a pair of 

 wire pincers. In the latter case, they must have been heated 

 beforehand, in order to take off their elasticity. When he has 

 placed the figures — e.g. a flower or a net of meshes — together in 

 this way, the metal strips naturally stand upon their narrow edge, 

 and are then applied to the corresponding design on the article 

 to be enamelled. The Biyaku-gu, or bulb of an orchid called 

 Shuran ^ {Bletia hyacmthinay R. Br.), furnishes the cement for 



1 I found this species of orchid, known by its splendid red flowers, in great 

 abundance in Southern Japan on a bare hillside. It was introduced in 1802 



