Page 25 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

INTRODUCTION
5
vived. The duration of these outputs has been so short, and the character
of the work so unimportant, that no record has been left of the potters'
existence. The age of such pieces may be fairly determined, and the place
of baking may also be guessed at ; but beyond this it is oftentimes impos-
sible to get more light on the subject, nor is it of any importance in many
cases to do so.

Amateur Potters
The bane and misery of the student of Japanese pottery are the produc-
tions of the amateur potter. It has been the custom, in Japan, for devotees
of the tea ceremonies usu-cha and sen-cha to try their hand at an art
they all adore— that of pottery-making. Some of the work is good, and,
like amateur work in general, some of it is atrocious, and fortunately
carries with it the sign of its amateur origin, and this sign is about the
only feature that can be recognized. Though the pieces usually bear an
impressed or written mark, the characters are either undecipherable, or, if
capable of translation, reveal the poetic name of some garden or summer
house, or some general poetic name. They may also record the fact that
the earth is taken from some historic shrine or famous mountain, or that
the potter has reached the age of eighty or more years. As an illustration
of the origin of some of this work, for example, the amateur potter has
made a pilgrimage to some distant province, from which region he brings
back a quantity of clay; he gathers materials for glazing from another
province, settles down two hundred miles from the last place, and struggles
with the difficulties of this time-honored art by shaping a bowl or incense-
box, and having baked it, may apply the glaze when he gets home and
bake it again. An artist friend adorns it with a sprig of bamboo and signs
it with his pseudonym. Such are the difficulties in the way of identification
of these veritable puzzles. A study of Japanese pottery is not complete,
however, without a consideration of this work. The amateur often dis-
covers new kinds of clay and glaze, and often suggests more refined forms
or new kinds of objects which may be made of clay. The work of the pro-
fessional potter has often been affected by the pottery ronin. In a parallel
way our amateur photographers and microscopists have done a great deal
by their discoveries in advancing the character of the instruments demanded
by the professional workers in these branches.
In this class of pottery erroneous attributions are sure to be made from
the fact, as before stated (unless definite records are at hand), that the only
feature identifiable about the pottery is that it is non-professional ; and even