HOUSE & GARDEN 
68 
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Mott Fountains 
Whether for large 
country estates or sub¬ 
urban gardens, all Mott 
Fountains can now be 
equipped with self- 
supplying motor pumps. 
No expensive piping or 
water waste. Full in¬ 
formation on request. 
We issue separate 
catalogs of Display 
Fountains, Drink- 
ing Fountains, Electro¬ 
liers, Vases, Grills and 
Gateways, Settees and 
Chairs, Statuary, Aqua¬ 
riums, Tree Guards, 
Sanitary Fittings for 
Stable and Barn. 
Any of these are 
gladly sent on request. 
Address Ornamental Dept. 
THE J. L. MOTT IRON WORKS, Fifth Avenue and 17th St., New York 
Insist 
name 
When buying grass rugs guard against 
fraudulent imitations. Prove to your own 
satisfaction that the rug offered is the genu¬ 
ine CREX. They are easy to identify. Un¬ 
less the name C-R-E-X is woven in the edge of 
the side binding you are being offered a substitute. 
There are no ‘‘just as goods.” Insist on the genuine 
CREX and thus avoid AN INFERIOR ARTICLE 
offered because of larger profit. 
CREX rugs are made of specially cured and se¬ 
lected strong, pliant, wire-grass. They’re sanitary, 
artistic, durable, economical, seamless and revers¬ 
ible-easy to keep clean. Ideal for every room in 
the home through all seasons, as well as the porch. 
CREX is patented and fully protected under U. S. Govt. 
Copyright. We will prosecute relentlessly dealers guilty 
of fraudulent substitution or wilful misrepresentation. 
Handsomely illustrated 32-page color catalog No. 28. Free on request. 
CREX CARPET COMPANY 
212 Fifth Avenue New York 
Originators of wire-grass products 
Cri < Carpet Company 
HICHEST AWARD 
CRASS 
FLOOR COVERING 
OFFICIAL 
AWAR D 
RIBBON 
PANAMA PACIFIC 
INTERNATIONAL 
EXPOSITION 
SAN FRANCISCO 
1915 
\0 
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PRIZE 
TRADE MARK REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. 
The flute player is an example of 
Toyokuni’s work 
Collecting Japanese Color Prints 
{Continued from page 66) 
can, I think, get vastly more pleasure 
out of them as a hobby than out of 
almost any other collectible things, 
even when going “blindly into it.” 
However, he need not go into it so 
blindly after all. There are delight¬ 
ful handbooks on the subject, whose 
low cost will place them within 
reach of all, handbooks such as A. 
Dawson Ficke’s "Chats on Japanese 
Prints,” one of the newest, most lucid 
and entertaining books on the sub¬ 
ject to be had. 
Perhaps the great fault with many 
writers on the subject is their atti¬ 
tude of discouraging the extensive 
collecting of minor works and of the 
prominence with which they urge at¬ 
tention to works that will compel the 
connoisseur’s admiration. Naturally 
there can be no comparison between 
a Japanese print by a great master 
and one by a minor Japanese artist. 
Nevertheless the pleasure of collect¬ 
ing is here our concern, more than 
the importance of the things col¬ 
lected, though the ideal collection is 
one which combines important ac¬ 
quisitions with a pleasure in their 
possession. 
Then, too, the person who starts a 
collection of Japanese prints may al¬ 
ways substitute better examples, and 
finally bring the whole to a repre¬ 
sentative state of better quality. 
The Print Periods 
It is not the intention here to do 
much more than to suggest this spe¬ 
cial field for collecting, but one 
should know the most important gen¬ 
eral historic phases in the evolution 
of the color-prints of Japan. 
The Primitive Period, opening with 
Moronobu (circa 1660), was marked 
by the black and white prints of the 
book illustration of the time. 
The Second Period, culminating a 
century later, introduced color, as we 
find an orange-red pigment (tan) 
coming into use soon after 1700. In 
1710, or thereabouts, citrine and yel¬ 
low were added; 1715 found a more 
delicate red replacing the crude tan. 
This was the vegetable color called 
beni. The year 1770 found the colors 
enhanced by lacquer, and by other 
colors as well as by gold powders, 
mother-of-pearl powder, etc., skil¬ 
fully employed by the color-print 
artists. The earlier color-prints were 
colored by hand. 
The year 1742 introduced color¬ 
printing with two blocks, an inven¬ 
tion accredited to Masanobu. Green 
and red ( beni) were the colors em¬ 
ployed. The name Beni-ye is given 
to such prints. 
In 1755 a third color was intro¬ 
duced. This at first was blue, and 
was used with the green and red. 
Later variations such as red, green 
and yellow, etc., were employed. 
Toyonobu was a master at combin¬ 
ing three colors. 
The Third Period dates from 1780 
to 1790, and developed complex color- 
printing as well as interested itself 
somewhat more in realism. 
The Fourth Period (1790-1806) 
marked a decadence, fraught though 
it is with great interest. To the Occi¬ 
dent eye the fascinating types that 
now come to replace the classic types 
in earlier color-prints are perhaps 
thoroughly and more pleasing than 
the other ones. 
The Fifth Period (1806-1858) en¬ 
tered with the deatli of the great 
Utamaro. After this occurred we 
(Continued on page 70) 
