Posts Tagged ‘geometric windows’

Later Japanese ceramics
In 1853 Commodore Nlatthew Galbraith Perry of the United States Navy entered Japanese territorial waters, forcing the country to accept diplomatic relations and trade with the West after over 200 years of seclusion. One of the effects of this exposure was the introduction of western technology, and this, coupled with the ambitions of the new Meiji Government after 1868, encouraged expansion. The town of Arita, the traditional home of Japanese porcelain, responded not only by making increasing numbers of conventional wares but also with brilliant showpieces suitable for display at international exhibitions and trade fairs, such as those held in London in the 1860x, in Paris ( 1867), and in Philadelphia ( 1876). The potters in the most important ceramic centres – Kaga, Satsuma, Kyoto and Seto – also benefited from the liberal policies of the Meiji Government. Vast quantities of pottery and porcelain saturated the markets in Europe Lind the USA. Such was the craze for all things Japanese that both impressionism and the Aesthetic Movement were inspired by the imported wares.
The range of Meiji ceramics is vast and includes extraordinarily elaborate and over-decorated earthenwares and the most delicate and flimsy eggshell porcelains. The majority arc generally considered to be of variable quality, especially the blue-and-white Arita and Imari porcelains. The mass-produced wares for the export market rarely correspond to the canons of the traditional Japanese aesthetic; the designs are mostly very busy and often lack coherence. They appear either to reflect a Western picture-postcard view of Japan or to be re-creations of earlier export porcelains. The emphasis was on space-filling decoration such as millefiori (thousand flowers) or overlapping panels of various shapes filled with diverse ornament.
ARITA
Late Imari porcelain (made in or around the town of Arita) consists mainly of decorative vases, bottles, bowls, and dishes; figures or useful tablewares
were rarely if ever made. The majority v of the production was f off-white, poorly levigated
porcelain covered in a thinnish
glaze. Surface pitting, iron flecks, and smudged cobalt indicate the somewhat
casual nature of this mass-produced output. Designs are often partly stencilled with outlines in a variable Underglaze blue, which were then infilled with an orangey iron-red, green, turquoise and gilding. The surface decoration featured either a main subject within complicated borders, or an all-over design made up of small panels showing various non-concordant subjects. For such wares the emphasis was on ornamentation –the “more-is-better” school of thought. Output includes enormous Indian dub-shaped vases with flared and frilled necks; small shallow saucer dishes; globular bottles with tall narrow cylindrical necks; multi-lobed, high-shouldered jars; and large dishes moulded in the form of a chrysanthemum. These wares arc generally unmarked, although many have impressed characters. The best Imari wares at this time were made by the Fukugawa family. In 1894 Chuji Fukugawa founded the Fukugawa Manufacturing Manufacturing Co. in Arita, which produced very refined wares -with symmetrical, soft, smoky -blue underglaze decoration.
Blue-and-white Arita wares are made of the same material as the Imari type, but the designs are not compartmentalized in the same way, relying instead on ordered floral, bird, or animal subjects. Some of the flatwares, especially the smaller dishes, were decorated entirely using stencils.
KAGA AND SETO
Although Kaga on the island of Honshu was a major centre for stoneware, it produced little porcelain of note Until the 19th century. The porcelain from the region around Kaga is known as Kutani ware. There are two basic styles of this: the first uses dark washes of green, purple, yellow, and black; the second, which was made specifically for export to the West, is known as “Red Kutani”. This export ware has a red ground and grisaille decoration showing people in romantic land- and riverscapes enjoying the delights of the season; decoration may also be heightened with gilding. another common type of Kutani ware does not use red.
By the end of the 19th century there were 434 kilns in Seto in Owari Province, producing mainly export wares. The potters generally appear to have made blue-and-white porcelains, some very close in feeling and design to the Chinese porcelains produced during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722). Output consisted of thinly potted ornamental vases and teawares, which were sent to Tokyo for decoration.
SATSUMA AND KYOTO
Although Satsuma was an important centre of ceramic production from the 16th century, the town is synonymous with the highly decorative export wares made from the mid-19th century. These cream-coloured earthenwares with finely crackled glazes and thickly applied enamelled and gilded decoration were also produced in the town of Kyoto. Satsuma and Satsuma-type wares were first shown outside Japan at the international exhibitions, resulting in a huge demand for them in the West. While some are of the very highest craftsmanship, many are of rather mediocre or poor quality, intended for sale in department stores.
In Satsuma the Seikozan studio, and in
Kyoto such potters as Kinkozan IV (1824-84) and Yabu Meizan (1853-1934), made extremely fine panelled wares decorated with miniature scenes depicting people carrying out everyday activities like fishing, playing, or strolling in parklands or along riversides. Landmarks such as Mount Fujiama were also depicted, together with animals including monkeys, cranes, pheasants, peacocks, and cockerels, and flowers
Such as chrysanthemums, irises, proms blossom,
and wisteria. Around these panels the ground was embellished with complex patterns or overlapping designs. Wares included koro (incense burners), vases, wine or sake ewers, howls, covered jars, and figures. The most sophisticated wares with the finest-quality decoration appealed to followers of the Aesthetic Movement in Europe and the USA. Most of these wares are clearly signed on the base.
NORITAKE
In 1891 the McKinley Tariff Act passed by the American Congress declared that all Japanese wares imported into the USA should be clearly marked with the word “Nippon” (the Japanese name for
One of the most important factories that produced what were known as “Nippon” wares was the Noritake Co., established in 1904 in Nagoya by Icizaemon Morimura 1875). The company specialized in the production of porcelain wares, at first copying debased Rococo-style European wares decorated with flowers, fruit, foliage. in
and landscapes i pale pastel tones with gold relief highlights. During the 1920s such well-known designer-, as the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1956) were commissioned to supply designs reflecting the current vogue for Art Deco-style tea, coffee and dinner services. After 1921 the American government decided that the Nippon marls was to be changed to “Japan” or “Made in Japan”.

Arita
• BODY porcelain
• GLAZE usually fairly thin with surface pitting
• TYPES blue-and-white and Imari-style wares
• DECORATION Imari: busy; blue and white
Kaga and SetoBody
• porcelain
• DECORATION Kaga: loosely painted with predominant iron red or grisaille; Seto, mainly delicately, drawn natural themes in clear, bright g
underclaze blue
Satsuma and KyotoBODY
• fine earthenware
• GLAZE Satsuma: warm, creamy, crackled glaze
• PALETTE enamelling in bright colours, gilding
DECORATION landscapes; people carrying out everyday activities; flowers; animals
Marks
Kyoto: seal mark for Yabu Meizan
NoritakeBODY
• at first a grey Seto body; from the each- 1920s a pure white porcelain similar to that made at the French factory of Limoges
• TYPES good quality utilitarian wares of European/ American form intended for export
Marks
Mark used on many Noritake Nippon wares (C.1911-1921); “M” is for Morimura

Kakiemon
A type of Arita ware, Kakiemon is a delicate porcelain with a distinctive palette. The name is derived from a family of potters and enamellers working in Arita, who are traditionally believed to have introduced overglaze enamelling on porcelain to Japan in the 1640s. The extremely fine, milky-white body (nigoshide) was believed to have been exclusive to the Kakiemon kiln, although this is now disputed. Wares include small dishes, bottles, bowls, and vases, many of which are of geometric form.
DECORATION AND FORMS
Although the Kakiemon kilns produced blue-andwhite porcelain, they are generally associated with wares expertly painted in a palette of iron-red, cerulean-blue, turquoise-green, yellow, aubergine, and gold. These delicate porcelains form a counterpoint to the heavier Imari wares.
Often asymmetrical, the designs enhance
the milky-white body of the best Arita porcelain. Kakiemon wares are usually painted with natural themes: birds in branches, flying squirrels, the “quail and millet” design, the “Three
Friends of Winter” (pine, prunus, and bamboo), trailing flowers, and banded hedges. Human subjects are rare; some have been given titles such as the “Woman and the Nightingale” and the “Hob in the Well”, the latter a design based on the story of a Chinese sage who saved his friend who had fallen into a large fishbowl.
The chrysanthemum, the national flower of Japan, is a very common form for
Kakiemon wares, as is the pointed bracket-shape. Many Arita wares, especially the Kakiemon type, are hexagonal or octagonal in form. An iron-brown dressing (fuchi-beni) was applied to the edges of many Kakiemon porcelains to embellish them and to protect the rims from being chipped; this was probably introduced around the mid-17th century, following the example set by Chinese potters. Kakiemon porcelain was arguably the most influential Japanese porcelain in Europe; after it was exported to Europe at the end of the 17th century, the forms and decoration were copied by many major factories including Meissen, Saint Cloud,Chantilly, Chelsea, and Bow.
• BODY a pure milky-white (nigoshide)
• GLAZE almost colourless
• PALETTE iron red, cerulean blue, turquoise, brown, yellow, and gold; black is used for detailing; iron-
brown edges (fuchi-beni) are typical
• FORMS geometric; dishes are hexagonal, octagonal, or decagonal
• DECORATION mainly flower motifs and only rarely figures; asymmetrical and sparse; popular patterns include the “quail and millet”, the “Three Friends of Winter” (pine, bamboo, and prunus), banded hedges, flying squirrels, and the ho-ho bird (phoenix)
• COPIES made in many European factories from the end of the 18th century, including Meissen, Chantilly, Saint Cloud, Chelsea, and Bow

Korea’s close proximity to China has resulted in a marked Chinese influence in its ceramic production, ev ident in both the forms and the techniques used by potters. However, Korea has also produced stonewares and porcelains unique to its culture.
THE SILLA AND KORYO PERIODS
During the Silla kingdom (57 BC—AD 935) ceramic production in Korea consisted of grey- or brownish-bodied stonewares of distinctive architectonic form. Tall vessels with hemispherical bowls on an elongated spreading foot were decorated with geometric
windows and incised bands. Bowls were decorated with punched circlets, small repeated motifs, scratched geometric patterns, and, occasionally, animals or humans. Drawing inspiration from the Yue wares of south-eastern China, Korean potters developed celadon wares during the Koryo period (918-1392). Even if some of the forms are noticeably Chinese, there is almost always a distinctive Korean feel to them.
The green glaze is of a subtle tonality akin to the colour of the famous Ru wares of the northern Song Dynasty. However, er, the sangam celadons, which are painstakingly inlaid with black-and-white clays, are unique to Korea. A wide range of objects was made, including large blossom vases, ritual water ewers, and tiny covered boxes. Porcelain was also produced, albeit in very limited quantities, during the Koryo period.
CHOSON DYNASTY (1392-1910)
Developed from the sangam celadons of the Koryo period are the robust and often crude punch’ong wares, a greyish-green celadon-type stoneware made for about the first 200 years of the dynasty. Production ceased at the time of the invasion of Korea by the Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1592-8). The wares are decorated by stamping and washing through with slip. Decoration may feature tiny repeated motifs, flower-heads, or scrolls. Korean wares are generally very heavily potted with a curiously sticky glaze. The greyish-green glaze is thin, translucent, and mostly crackled, and it occasionally flakes. Choson whitewares were made throughout the period; earlier wares were often plain white, although many pieces can be painted in underglaze copper red, iron brown, or blue. Bulbous forms, often with faceted sides, are characteristic of the later Choson period, as are pierced vessels such as brushpots, pipe rests, and waterpots.
Early stoneware
• BODY dull dark grey or brown; potting tends to be very thick, and there is strong tendency for the items to warp
• FORMS “architectural”
• TYPES funerary wares
• DECORATION pierced and incised; often geometric patterns, rarely figures
celadon
• BODY generally a distinctive greyish blue-green like the classic Ru ware of the northern Song Dynasty
• GLAZE of greyish-olive tone; usually irregular; frequently crackled
• IDENTIFICATION celadon wares were fired on gritty kiln supports, often leaving crude patches on the underside of the foot-rim
• DECORATION the miniaturized inlay technique (sangam), using black-and-white clay, is unique to Korea
Porcelain
• BODY heavily potted; sometimes large pieces are warped or cracked; pierced and carved wares of the 18th and 19th centuries are very sophisticated
• GLAZE bluish or greenish irregularly crackled glaze
• DECORATION most common is the dragon; also cranes, tigers, and other animals
Marks
Most ceramics are unmarked before the late 19th century