Page 46 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

and white wares as the second derivation of Chinese originals. And for fairness, one
has to mention that the same indirect intercultural influence also took place with the
Japanese Imari porcelain. The Imari ware (called “kinrande” in Japanese) is an
underglaze blue decorated porcelain with overglaze red and gold invented by Japanese
potters in the mid-17th century (see plate 175). The name Imari comes from the town
Imari – a harbor city nearby the Arita kilns on the southern Island of Kyushu. The
products became so successful that even Chinese producers started to imitate them
during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. The Dutch and German, but above all English
producers copied Imari ware as well: in some cases, according to the Japanese
originals, in some cases according to Chinese Imari. It is not easy to say whether the
European Imari is the first or the second cultural derivation of the Japanese object.
A second decoration style and kiln in Arita – Kakiemon – became popular as well
and was exported to Europe (plate 180). Kakiemon refers to a scheme of decoration
which comprises sparse design in colored enamels (orange, red, green and others),
usually asymmetrically placed and without a framework as border. Also, Kakiemon
porcelain has been copied in Europe, for example, by the Meissen factory in Saxony
(see plate 273). When Chinese producers restarted porcelain exports during the
Kangxi period, and with the emergence of European porcelain and white glazed
earthenware in the mid-18th century Japanese exports to Europe became less and less.
Japan entered the ceramic export market at a very late point in time compared with
China, Vietnam and Thailand. However, Japan became in the last quarter of the 19th
century the most influential Asian exporter, keeping that position until the 1930s.
Japanese producers influenced by Korean potters discovered the art of porcelain
making many centuries after the Chinese and only about 100 years before it was
discovered in Europe. Before, Japan was a major destination for Chinese, Vietnamese
and Thai export ceramics itself. Domestic production was not sufficient, even though
the products made have a unique standing in the Asian tradition of pottery. Indeed,
traditional Japanese traditional domestic tea ceramics are to some extend not
comparable with the products of the neighboring countries. They are at the first sight
simple, thick, uneven and even somehow primitive. However, the beauty lies in its
proximity to nature, and in the way it pleases the hand touching it; every piece is
different and has its own natural appearance very much linked to Japanese philosophy
and Zen Buddhism, but of course, also not very suited to export purposes. This may
partly explain the negative image Japanese export porcelain had in Japan itself. The
difference between the domestic ceramics and the ceramics made for export purposes
seems to be much wider than in the case of China. Both major export periods - the
Japanese-VOC trading period from 1659 to approximately 1720 and the Meiji export
period from 1873 to 1940 - have seen a major role of the Western costumers in
defining the forms and decoration.
The close-door politics came to an unintended end when the US navy commander
Perry was able to negotiate in 1854 a treaty with Japan in Yokohama. Yokohama,
established in the mid-19th century near the capital Tokyo and nowadays the biggest
port of Japan – became to some extent the heir of Dejima – a symbol of a new period
of intercultural interaction between the East and the West. The new Meiji imperial
government (1868 – 1912) abolished the isolated feudal society and introduced
fundamental political, economic and military reforms according to Western examples.
Starting in 1872, Japanese companies participated in World Expos and demonstrated
arts and crafts to a curious European and US audience. Gottfried Wagener, a German
chemist and ceramics specialist, has assisted on invitation of the Meiji government, to
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modernize the Japanese ceramic industry . Vice versa, Japanese design and culture
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