inside the footrim, converging toward the center are found on Chinese wares. But these lines are not an infallible guide because they were reproduced in Japanese wares also.
The glaze on Chinese pottery frequently stops short of the bottom of the object, but a small dab of glaze is put inside the footrim; often there are evidences of the sandy floor of the kiln. An outstanding feature of Japanese pottery is the very considerable amount of unglazed surface exposed, it is part of the decorative scheme and neither the footrim nor inside the rim are glazed and there are no signs of kiln sand or grit.
While the Japanese prefer the thicker and more rugged forms of porcelain wares they have produced and are today producing articles of egg-shell thinness, hard and fine and so translucent as to be almost transparent
There is one class of Japanese ceramics that is so essentially Japanese that there is little question as to their origin—the wares known as raku yaki. These are discussed in detail elsewhere.
Potters' marks and Seals:—
In China centuries ago these marks may have been reliable and have furnished information as to when and where or by whom a thing was made but they are useful now only as showing that the article could not have been made before the time indicated. In China as in Japan certain potters achieved fame because of their ability to exactly reproduce famous old pieces and they in their turn were reproduced (or counterfeited). The game has been going on for centuries in China. About 1664 Chinese merchants shipped to Europe a boat-load of porcelain wares all marked with the seal mark of Cheng Hua, an emperor who reigned from 1465 to 1487. Later when Japanese potters began making porcelains they copied the kiln marks exactly as they copied the designs. But just as the Japanese potter imparted an elusive something to the Chinese designs that distinguish them from the originals so in copying the Chinese characters making up the seal marks they gave them an unmistakable Japanese flavour, and this sometimes furnishes the first clue to a falsification which might otherwise have defied detection.
More modern Japanese pieces may be identified by individual seal marks but here again trouble enters for the student because of certain practices such as follows: a master potter sometimes put his personal seal on all articles made in his kiln; or a potter signed his productions with any number of different names or with the name of an artist whom he admired; frequently the successors of a famous potter have used that potter's seal for generations; most baffling of all is the accepted custom of signing the original artist's name to a reproduction of his work made perhaps many years after his death.
Nevertheless, the potter's marks and seals on the various wares are most interesting and as Ming dynasty marks are found on Japanese wares and indeed are still being reproduced daily it is well to learn a little about them, if only to relieve the harrassed Japanese whose American friends demand that he read and explain the marks. Read them any literate Japanese can, but to explain them is a different matter. Briefly, marks may be (1) Date marks, that is, giving the name of the dynasty and the name of the ruler during whose reign the article was made. (2) Hall marks, that is, inscriptions giving the name of a hall or building which may be the studio name of the potter; the family hall for which the ritual ware was made; the name of one of the buildings of the Imperial palace for which it was made or even of the store or workshop from which it was ordered; as for example, "Beautiful vessel of (or for) the Jade hall" or "Antique made in (or for) the Shen te Hall." (3) Potters' names, in China these are rare but in Japan they are legion. (4) Marks of commendation or expressions of good wishes and dedications such as "A myriad happinesses embrace all your affairs" or "Virtue, culture and enduring spring" or "Great peace throughout the empire."
Inscriptions found on Chinese wares and copied on
Japanese wares:—
Yung pao wan shou:—Ever protecting for a myriad ages.
Yung pao fu Ch'i fien:—Ever ensuring abundant happiness reaching to heaven.
Fu ju tung tai:—Rich as the Eastern Ocean.
Feng fiao yu shun, fien hsia t'ai p'ing:—May the winds be propitious, the rain fall favourable and peace prevail throughout the world.
Yung Pao ch'ang ch'un:—Ever preserving lasting spring.
Ch'ien k'ung ch'ing t'ai:—Heaven and earth be fair and fruitful.
Wang ku ch'un Ssu hat lai ch'ao:—Through an everlasting spring of a myriad ages may tribute come from the four seas.
T'ien hsia t'ai p'ing:—Peace throughout the world.
Shing shou:—Wisdom and long life.
Yung pao ch'ien K'un:—Ever protecting heaven and earth.
Japanese Classifications:—
The Japanese system of classifying their ceramic wares according to type (densetsu) of decoration or thing produced leads to overlapping categories and one small article may be designated by the name of the kiln at which it was made, by the name of the first potter to use that style of decoration and by a name indicating the method by which the thing was potted. The most flagrant example is that of Oribe wares.
Oribe, whose real name was Furuta Oribe no Sho, died just three hundred and thirty-five years ago but wares produced in many different kilns in Japan today are still called oribe yaki that is, Oribe wares (See Page 34). Of course an American parallel can be found in the Bell telephone or the Edison lamps, but in the world of art it is an unusual phenomenon. And Oribe was neither artist nor potter, he was a teacher of, and authority on, all matters relating to the ceremonial serving of tea, cha no yu. Among the many cha jin (tea teachers), whose influence was strong on Japanese ceramics and who have given their names to certain types of wares are So ami, Shin o, Jo o, Rikyu, Sotan, Enshu, Shimbei, Kuchu, Ninsei and a host of others.
Japanese ceramic connoisseurs are apt to name a piece of pottery by the style or type of decoration, as Oribe yaki, Kakiyemon yaki, Ninsei yaki and usually disregard the actual maker of the article or the kiln at which it was made.
Names:—
It is practically impossible to identify a piece of Japanese ceramics by the name stamped, inscribed or written on it because a potter sometimes used two or more names on his wares, and sometimes several generations of potters used the same name and further, it has always been the custom of Japanese amateur potters to use the name of a famous master potter whose works they admire and copy.
The potters of old Japan, as indeed all people below the rank of samurai, had no family names. It is only since the establishment of modern Japan that artisans have felt the need of reconciling the name they were born to and used by other members of their family with their artist name. This custom and the practice of legal adoption causes difficulties in correctly recording the various generations of a line of potters. In many cases it is impossible to ascertain the birth and death dates of an individual potter, the best we can do is to give the period of years within which the potter worked using the name of the potter family of which he is an official "generation" (dai).
Seals and Signatures:—
The signatures found on Japanese ceramics, as indeed on all forms of art or artcraft, are usually "nom de plumes" or artist names; or names in some way connected with the artists productions, either the thing produced or the place at which they were made.
Early Imari wares had no potters' seals or marks; the marks found on early Imari wares are copies of Chinese marks.
Early
