STUDIES IN JAPANESE ART 251 



lated in gold and coloured lacquers, or carved in 



ivory or mother-of-pearl, and attached to the 



surface/ In metal work also this bird is frequently 



met with either cast in bronze, or wrought in the 



precious metals, relieved in the coloured portions 



with other metals or alloys. Again, we may often 



see Cranes very skilfully embroidered in fine 



twisted silk, with every important feather very 



beautifully and accurately wrought. When the 



birds are drawn in upward flight, they are usually 



surrounded with conventional clouds, giving the 



idea of space ; when they are shown in downward 



flight, a few tops of trees appear at the bottom 



of the picture, graphically indicating their near 



approach to earth. 



A law existed in Japan, and is believed to be 



still observed, that no firearms should be used 



within a radius of thirty miles from the Imperial 



palace. This encouraged to a great extent the 



sport of falconry, and consequently the taste for 



depicting its scenes. Captain Blakiston, who has 



paid much attention to the birds of Japan, states 



that the Goshawk is the bird most used by the 



1 One of the most striking examples of this kind of work I 

 saw in the Japanese Court at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. It 

 was a very beautiful folding screen of lacquer inlaid with ivory 

 and mother-of-pearl, on which was a spirited representation of 

 crane-hawking with white falcons. On one side a Crane, struck 

 down by a Falcon, was lying with extended wings in the act of 

 being seized by the hawk. The former bird was of ivory in alto- 

 relief, the latter of mother-of-pearl. The workmanship was 

 marvellous ; every one of the primary feathers, quill and web, 

 being exquisitely carved. Indeed I have never seen anything 

 of the kind at all comparable to the extended left wing of that 

 Crane. 



