no 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 



methods of purification are not so perfectly understood 

 as in the West. The result is that the so-called _" anti- 

 mony " of the Japanese art metal-workfers, which is pre- 

 sent in the variety of copper called " kuromi," is really a 

 complex mixture containing tin, cobalt, and many other 

 metals, so that a metal-worker has an infinite series of 

 materials at command with which to secure any particular 

 shade ; and these are used with much judgment, although 

 the scientific reasons for the adoption of any particular 

 sample may be hidden from him. It is strictly accurate 

 to say that each particular shade of colour is the result of 

 minute quantities of metallic impurity, and these speci- 

 mens and diagrams will, I trust, make this clear, and will 

 prove that the Japanese arrange true pictures in coloured 

 metals and alloys. 



[This portion of the subject was illustrated with much 

 care by coloured diagi-ams representing specimens of 

 Japanese art metal-work, by photographs projected on 

 the screen, as well as by the reflected images of small 

 ornaments made of the alloys which had been specially 

 referred to. There was also a trophy of leaves of copper 

 of varying degrees of purity coloured brilliantly by one or 

 other of the " pickles " above described.] 



There is one other art material to the production of 

 which I hope art workmen in Birmingham will soon 

 direct their attention, as its applications are endless. It 

 is called in Japanese " mokume," which signifies "wood- 

 grain." It is now very rare even in Japan, but formerly the 

 best specimens appear to have been made in Nagoya by 

 retainers of the Uaimio of Owari. I have only seen six 

 examples, and only possess a single specimen of native 

 work, and have therefore had to prepare a few illustra- 

 tions for you in soldered layers of gold, silver, shibu-ichi, 

 shaku-do, and kuromi. 



y:->.o 



This diagram (Fig. 3) shows the method of manufacture. 

 Take thin sheets of almost any of the alloys I have 

 mentioned, and solder ' them together layer upon layer, 

 care being taken that the metals which will present 

 diversity of colour come together. Then drill conical 

 holes of varying depth. A, in the mass, or devices in 

 trench-like cuts of V section, B, and hammer the mass 

 until the holes disappear ; the holes will thus be replaced 

 by banded circles and the trenches by banded lines. A 

 Japanese artificer taught me to produce similar eflects by 

 taking the soldered layers of the alloy, and by the aid of 

 blunted tools making depressions on the back of the 

 mass so as to produce prominences on the front, C. These 

 prominences are filed down until the sheet is again flat ; 

 the banded alloys will then appear on the surface in 

 complicated sections, and a very remarkable effect is 

 produced, especially when the colours of the alloys are 

 developed by suitable " pickles." In this way any device 

 may be produced. In principle the method is the same 

 as that which produces the dainasccning of a sword-blade 

 or gun-barrel, and depends on the fact that under certain 



conditions metals behave like viscous solids, and as truly 

 "_flow " as pitch or honey does, only in the case of 

 mokume the art workman has a wide range of tinted 

 metals at command. 



Throughout Japanese art metal-work, in which I hope 

 you will take increasing interest, there is the one prin- 

 ciple of extreme simplicity and absolute fidelity to nature. 

 The brilliant metals, gold and silver, are used most 

 sparingly, only for enrichment, and to heighten the 

 general effect ; these precious metals are never allowed 

 to assert themselves unduly, and are only employed 

 where their presence will serve some definite end in 

 relation to the design as a whole. A Japanese proverb 

 asserts that " He who works in gold puts his brains into 

 the melting-pot," meaning, I suppose, that this metal, so 

 precious from an artistic point of view, demands for its 

 successful application the utmost effort of the workman, 

 and suggesting that gold should not be employed in 

 massive forms such as would result from melting and 

 casting, but should be daintily handled, beaten on to the 

 work, or embedded with the hammer. 



Bear in mind that in Birmingham, when a really fine 

 work is produced in silver, the surface is often made gray 

 by chemical means, " oxidised," as it is termed, and this 

 subordination ofthe brilliancy of silver to artistic effect, is 

 well understood by the celebrated American firm, Messrs. 

 Tiffany, of New York, who are doing so much to catch 

 the spirit of Japanese art metal-work. All I ask you to do 

 is to carry this still further — to cover base metals with 

 these glowing coloured oxides, and thus to add to the 

 permanence of art work, by producing surfaces which 

 will resist the unfavourable atmospheric influences of our 

 cities. 



Hitherto we have considered the union of metals by 

 fusion, but fire is not the only agent which can be em- 

 ployed for this purpose. Two or more metals may be 

 deposited side by side by the aid of the electric battery. 

 Birmingham was, as you well know, the early home of 

 electro-metallurgy, an industry to the development of 

 which the great firm of Elkington has so materially con- 

 tributed. I have no statistics as to the amount of pre- 

 cious metals annually employed for electro-deposition in 

 Birmingham, but it is known that a single works in Paris, 

 belonging to M. Christofle, deposits annually six tons of 

 silver, and it has been estimated that the layer of silver 

 of the thickness actually deposited on various articles 

 would, if spread out continuously, cover an area of 140 

 acres. 1 I will not, however, dwell upon the deposition of 

 gold and silver in their normal colours. I would remind 

 you that copper and zinc may be deposited by electrolysis 

 so as to form brass, and that all the beautiful bronzes and 

 alloys of the Japanese can be obtained by galvanic agency ; 

 and further, by suitable admixtures of gold, silver, and 

 copper, red-gold, rose-coloured gold, or green gold may 

 be deposited, so that the electro-metallurgist has at his 

 command the varied palette of the decorative artist. 



[The images of beautiful deposits of coloured gold, 

 specially prepared by Messrs. Elkington, were then pro- 

 jected on the screen.] 



I ought to allude to what has been called the moral 

 aspect of colour, and although I cannot follow Goethe- in 

 his attributes of colour, which seem to me to be fantastic 

 and over-strained, I quite recognise the poetic sympathy 

 of Shakespeare in making BassUnio select the casket of 

 lead, which contained the warrant for his earthly happi- 

 ness, because " its paleness moved him more than elo- 

 quence." I ask you to remember Ruskin's words, that 

 "all men completely organised and justly tempered 

 enjoy colour ; it is meant for the perpetual comfort and 

 delight of the human heart ; it is richly bestowed on the 

 highest works of creation, and the eminent sign and seal 

 of perfection in them being associated with life in the 



' H. Bouilhet, A,i,i. de Clitm. et dc Pliyr. t. xxiv. p. 549, 1881. 



