Page 116 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

99

efforts of the Meiji state (1868-1912). Before the advent of “bijutsu,” the conventional term

for arts was “geijutsu ᖵஔ,” a concept which invoked other broader ideas such as military

expertise, Buddhist iconography, and calligraphy. “Geijutsu” had itself spread to Japan as a

byproduct of the influence of Confucian trends during the Edo period (1603-1867). In the

late-nineteenth century, the concept geijutsu provided the platform on which twentieth

42
century ideas about art developed. The transmitted concept from Europe encompassed
the diametrically opposed but mutually constitutive branches of fine arts and craft arts, was

transplanted from Europe. The circular trajectory of “bijutsu” and “geijutsu” paralleled the

same route along which porcelain texts and information also flowed.

English-language studies on ceramics began with the establishment of Britain’s

43
museums in the nineteenth-century. A central figure in the history of these twin

developments of the latter half of the nineteenth century was respected the English doctor,

Dr. Stephen Wootton Bushell (1844-1908). Bushell was the HMS Physician to the

British legation in Beijing. Fluent in Chinese and familiar with sinological methods, he

was an avid collector of ceramics, as well as other objects such as jade and bronzes.

Only five years after his arrival in Beijing, Bushell had already achieved an authoritative

reputation in researching Chinese art. He was chosen as a personal porcelain buyer for

the British Museum’s keeper of antiquities, Augustus Wollaston Franks. In the 1870s

Franks recommended Bushell for the task of purchasing artifacts for the South

44
Kensington museum’s collection. By the mid-1880s, Bushell had purchased over two

hundred pieces of porcelain from China, laying the foundation for the South Kensington

Museums’ collection of Chinese art. His responsibilities included writing the handbook

guide to these collections. Until Bushell began to publish various translations of