Page 260 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

good, but his practice is bad. For having observed

the existence of such confusion, he proceeds to make

it worse confounded by ascribing to China wares

which are unquestionably Japanese. That most con-

scientious of connoisseurs, Mr. A. W. Franks, detects

the French writer's error, but remains evidently un-

certain as to its extent. The fact is, that this fashion

of decoration, though the rule in Japan, was the ex-

ception in China. For one piece of Chinese porce-
lain thus decorated, thousands of Japanese are to be

found. The term invented by Jacquemart conveys

a good idea of the style of the ware. It is at once
distinguishable from the " Famille Verte
"

by the fact

that green occupies a comparatively insignificant

place in the decoration. The salient colours are

blue and red, almost equally balanced, the former
Aunder the glaze.
constantly recurring feature in

the design is the hanakago, or basket of flowers, so

well known to collectors of Japanese porcelain. In

conjunction with this, or independently, are masses

of chrysanthemums and flowering peonies, bordered

by floral scrolls traced in gold on a blue ground and

generally broken by medallions. Diapers and ara-

besques are freely used. Or again, conventional
rocks with flowers growing from them form the

central design, around which are disposed bands of

blue with gold scrolls, and broad rings divided into

panels containing fishes, crustaceans, marine animals,

birds, insects, phoenixes, flowers, and miniature fig-
ures. Even in the absence of other evidence, these

porcelains alone would suffice to dispel all doubt as

to the existence of an intimate relation between Ja-

panese and Chinese decorative motives. The only

easily detected difference between the styles is in the