JAPAN
that used for the arsenical bronze, with the addition of 1 c.c. of plum-vinegar to each litre. The finest grey tints are obtained only with alloys containing from 20 to 50 per cent of silver. By the use in his design of both these classes of alloys,—shakudo and shibuicbi,—together with gold, silver, copper, and iron, the Japanese craftsman has achieved results in colour which are unrivalled in the metal work of the world. The white of silver, the black of shakudo, the yellows of golds of various grades, the greys of shibuicbi, and the reds and browns of copper,—all he employs in harmonious combinations to enrich the effect of his sculptured work, and shows himself in all to be a true master in the art of metal decoration.
Copper was largely used in the manufacture of sword-mountings. In fact the earliest sword-guards found in Japan were made of copper thinly plated with gold. Not until a comparatively recent date, however,—probably the seventeenth century,—did Japanese artists discover and put into successful practice the patina-producing methods which impart such beauty to their work in copper, and enable them to combine it so admirably with other metals for decorative purposes. They obtain copper surfaces showing not merely a rich golden sheen with charming limpidity, but also red of various hues, from deep coral to light vermilion, several shades of grey, and brown of numerous tones, from dead-leaf to chocolate.[1]
Until the days of the Gotō masters iron was the metal exclusively used for manufacturing sword-mounts, but Gotō Yūjō's fine chiselling of shakudo, and the beautiful nanako ground that he devised for kōgai and kozuka of that compound, gave it a vogue which continued uninterrupted down to modern times. Naturally a sculptor who contemplated the expenditure
- ↑ See Appendix, note 34.
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