JAPAN
on a red ground, or medallions containing miniature paintings of flowers, birds, landscapes, etc., and separated by solid spaces of red with scrolls and arabesques in gold. Considerable quantities of this ware find their way to China, probably for the use of the foreign residents, though it is said that the Chinese themselves affect it. A wealthy merchant, Nishimura Fuji, promotes the manufacture and exports the ware.
In recent times common porcelain for domestic use in Japan is largely produced at Tajimi, Ichi-no-kura, and other places in Mino. The decoration, blue sous couverte, is no longer the work of free-hand draughtsmen, but is accomplished by the aid of stencil paper. The pigment employed is European smalt. Economy was always a feature of the Mino methods. It is related that the factories at Tajimi were largely patronised by the Government in the early part of the seventeenth century, not so much for the sake of the merits of their ware as on account of its comparative cheapness, for the potters of Seto, trading on their reputation, had gradually raised their prices to an almost prohibitive degree.
It should be mentioned that among the modern enamelled porcelains of Mino there is a variety having gold decoration in relief after the fashion of late-period Satsuma faience.
Apart from the reputation it acquired in connection with the egg-shell ware of Ichi-no-kura, the province of Mino deserves special notice for the sake of an artist called Gosuke, whose porcelain, painted with blue under the glaze, is in some respects the best of its kind now produced in Japan. The colour is pure and very delicate, the outlines are distinct, and the glaze is lustrous and regular.
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