SPECIAL SUBJECTS
The translucid enamels of the modern school are generally associated with decorated bases. In other words, a suitable design is chiselled in the metal base so as to be seen through the diaphanous enamel. Very beautiful effects of broken and softened light combined with depth and delicacy of colour are thus obtained. But the decorative designs which lend themselves to such a purpose are not numerous. A gold base deeply chiselled in wave-diaper and overrun with a paste of aubergine purple, is among the most pleasing. A still higher tour de force is to apply to the chiselled base designs executed in coloured enamels, finally covering the whole with translucid paste. Admirable results are thus obtained. Through a medium of cerulean blue bright gold-fish and steel-backed carp appear swimming in silvery waves, or brilliantly plumaged birds seem to soar among fleecy clouds. The artists of this school show also much skill in using enamels for purposes of subordinate decoration—for example, suspending enamelled butterflies, birds, floral sprays, etc., among the reticulations of a silver vase chiselled à jour (this kind of work is called hirado-jippō); or filling with translucid enamels parts of a decorative scheme sculptured in iron, silver, gold, or shakudo.
The reader will perceive at once what great strides Japanese workers in cloisonné enamels have made since the days when they sent to Europe specimens such as those carefully classified and illustrated in "The Decorative Arts of Japan." It is not incorrect to say that the art of cloisonné enamelling in Japan was developed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century from a condition of comparative crudeness[1]
- ↑ See Appendix, note 58.
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