Page 43 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

INTRODUCTION 23 ;

This is true also of the serial arrangement of the Provinces, the sequence
being purely arbitrary.
The absence of numbers in sequence or numbers marked with an
asterisk indicate that the objects are not exhibited for want of room and
for other reasons. Many are important to the collection in showing, for
example, the degradation of certain families of potters or some collateral
branch or other feature, and many have no artistic merit. Special students
may have access to these by applying to the Keeper of Japanese Pottery.
As before mentioned, Ninagawa Noritane began the publication of the
work entitled Kwan Ko Dzu Setsu in 1876.^ This work had the general
title of Japanese Arts and Industries. The work on Japanese Pottery
consisted of seven parts, and a number of unpublished plates and drawings
which would have formed Part VIII. had he lived. In this series a part
was published on the various gateways of the castle of Yedo, illustrated by
small photographs; plates had been made for a part on ancient roofing
tiles; and drawings had been prepared for a part on Japanese armor.
Ninagawa's untimely death in 1882 prevented the completion of this work.
The seven parts on pottery were illustrated by lithographic plates colored
by hand. The collection possesses many of the originals figured in this
work. Of Part I., of which many of the figures were copies from drawings,
the collection has none; of Part II. it has twenty-one out of twenty-three;
of Part III. it has thirty out of thirty-two; of Part IV. it has thirty-three
out of thirty-six ; of Part V. it has all the objects figured, numbering thirty
of Part VI. it has eleven out of thirty-five ; of Part VII. it has ten out of
thirty-one and of the objects figured on plates and drawings prepared for
;
Part VIII., but unpublished, it has fifteen out of twenty-two. The collec-
tion thus possesses one hundred and fifty of the originals of Ninagawa's
great work. Of the remaining fifty-two objects figured in the published
work the British Museum possesses nine, and a few of the remaining ones
are in the private collections of Thomas E. Waggaman, Esq., of Washing-
ton ; William Anderson, Esq., of London ; and Thomas Allen, Esq., of
Boston. The rarest and most important pieces figured by Ninagawa are in
Parts II., III., IV., and V. Of the one hundred and twenty-one figured in
these parts the collection possesses all but seven. In this catalogue the
originals are designated as Type Ninagawa, etc.
In order to render complete the historical development of Japanese
pottery a small collection of the softer pottery of China, Cochin China, and
Anam should be formed to illustrate the origin of certain types of pottery
1 Part I., 1876 ; Parts II., III., IV., and V., 1877 ; Part VI., 1879; Part VII., 1880.