THE FREER COLLECTION OF ART 
365 
Mr. Freer has brought his collection 
together with the utmost care, availing 
himself of the best expert advice, and 
sparing neither means nor trouble. Some 
of his specimens have been obtained at 
famous sales from other great collec¬ 
tions, but by far the larger number have 
been procured at first hand through 
trusted agents in Japan. The destruc¬ 
tion or rebuilding of several temples has 
opened the way for certain acquisitions, 
and the exigencies of the late war made 
others possible. Not content with merely 
good examples, Mr. Freer has sought the 
best, and his collection, in its entirety, is 
therefore harmonious, and in its several 
parts delightful. 
The screens alone are a revelation. 
One by Sesshu represents in monochrome 
a wonderful landscape. In the center of 
the composition is a huge promontory of 
volcanic rock; to the right is a valley in 
which are human habitations; and to the 
left a vast sea, beyond which mountains 
rise range upon range. Another by Ses- 
son also sets forth a great landscape, 
showing a mountainous country, with 
forests, waterfalls, temples, and mist- 
covered sea-shore. A third, the work of 
San Raku, shows a decorative arrange¬ 
ment of robes hung over supports. A 
fourth, signed by Sotatsu, dramatically 
portrays two enormous dragons amid the 
waves and the clouds. A fifth, by Okio, 
pictures, with the consummation of art 
and cunning, wild geese in flight. 
Words can scarcely describe the beauty 
and fascination of those in which flowers 
are used as the motif of the design. The 
Oriental painter does not reproduce na¬ 
ture : he interprets it. He never copies 
a single flower, but from several deduces 
a type which is more real than any indi¬ 
vidual example. A blossom to him is 
sacred for its beauty, and he renders its 
spirit as well as its outward form. In 
charming groups, on a silver ground, are 
seen large coxcombs, corn, and morning 
glories, painted by Koyetsu; on a pair 
of six-fold screens, in continuous design, 
Korin has set forth chrysanthemums— 
red, white, pink, and yellow,—and, on 
a pair of sliding-doors, plum blossoms 
on a grained-wood surface; while So- 
tatsu is found responsible for an elabo¬ 
rate device of flowering plants, includ¬ 
ing hollyhocks, hydrangeas, chrysanthe¬ 
mums, and poppies. A screen by Ho¬ 
kusai represents the twelve months, 
through delightful imagery; and another, 
by Fliroshige, gives a series of notable 
landscapes painted near Yeddo. There 
are, of a truth, many subjects and several 
styles, each characteristic and all engag¬ 
ing. 
1 n addition to these there are the ka¬ 
kemonos and the makimonos, many of 
which are very rare and beautiful—the 
master-pieces of master-workmen. One 
set of the former consists of the cele¬ 
brated sixteen Rakans by Ririomin, pre¬ 
viously the property of San-sei-ji Tem¬ 
ple. Some are on paper, others on silk, 
and all, almost without exception, are 
charmingly mounted. It is in this par¬ 
ticular that the modern Oriental still 
surpasses his brother of the West. He 
knows with keenest intuition the best 
manner in which to present his work, the 
choicest way to create environment. One 
would gladly linger over these instruc¬ 
tive works were there not still many to 
examine. 
The potteries alone number nine hun¬ 
dred and fifty-three specimens, and in¬ 
clude examples of Racca, Babylonian, 
Egyptian, Greek, Persian, Chinese, Ko¬ 
rean, and Japanese wares. The best 
periods of production are represented; 
the colorings are exquisite, the forms 
most graceful. Individually these speci¬ 
mens are in some instances as rare as they 
are charming, but each has been added 
solely for its artistic merit without re¬ 
gard to commercial values, and is looked 
upon merely as a factor in a great design. 
A distinguished living painter declares 
that he finds his colors in the plumage of 
birds, and in like manner others, in years 
to come, may turn for theirs to these 
potters’ products brought from the opu¬ 
lent East. 
To show the application of art prin¬ 
ciples to objects of utility, Mr. Freer has 
included in his gift a single case of mis¬ 
cellaneous articles, produced or deco¬ 
rated by the celebrated Oriental painters, 
who, excelling in noble works, thought 
the ornamentation of common objects 
not beneath their dignity. Flere, for 
instance, are lacquered boxes made 
and decorated by Koyetsu and Korin. A 
wooden box, elaborate in pictorial device 
and fine in color, by an early Tosa ar- 
