in the fine arts, have felt obligated to accept the fiat of taste which has gone forth from the seat of distinguished creative power. We have honestly tried to assimilate our preferences to a proscribed ideal, and, conscious of our shortcomings, we have snatched at the least offensive objects presented for our admiration. Supreme among these have been the two varieties of Japanese porcelain before alluded to. In them are to be found qualities which, while they are only lightly esteemed by the ultra-artistic, yet entitle them to be classified with the new régime. At the same time, they have certain features in which we trace the lineaments of a much-beloved but outlawed style, and which

A NANKIN GOLDFISH CISTERN.

AMONG the nondescript collections of pottery and porcelain with which the late impetus to ceramic art has crowded our emporiums of bric-a-brac, there is no faience more familiar or more popular than the quaint creations of those two famous manufactories of Japan, Satsuma and Kioto, unless we except the vast quantity of pseudo Majolica with which our shops are so liberally stocked. Our taste, of old, was crude enough to rest satisfied with mere beauty in the objets de vertu with which we filled our cabinets; but latterly a superrefined æsthetic appreciation has directed our fancy toward the most bizarre forms of ceramic invention. We run after rococo effects in that artistic frenzy which is so far-sighted as to discern a new and subtle charm in that art whose exponent is the grotesque. This metamorphosis of taste which induces us to rave over the many astounding conceptions of Mongolian art is happily only an affectation, as is evident from our preference for such unaccentuated principles as are expressed in Satsuma and Kioto ware.

We Americans, who are as yet mere imitators

A SOFT PORCELAIN VASE.

It seems hardly necessary to enter upon a description of these wares; but, lest the omission be noted, we will venture a reminder that, compared with other kinds of Japanese porcelain, their ornamentation is simple and scattered. The ground is invariably a rich cream, which is the natural color of the clay as it is brought out and enhanced by a clear vitreous enamel. In Satsuma ware, which is the more highly prized, the rarer and more expensive of the two varieties, the coloring of the clay is paler; but this difference is hardly appreciable unless the faience be closely compared with a piece of Kioto. The enamel, which is traversed by a myriad of minute cracks, is one of the strong points in both wares. This raquele effect is a special achievement of Japanese art, as the wonderful cloisonné enamels have likewise been. It was first applied to Satsuma ware, which was manufactured under the patronage of a

A MANDARIN VASE.

are a gracious concession to our outraged taste. To use an expressive though degenerate phrase, they are not too grotesque-just grotesque enough.

A somewhat self-sufficient connoisseur in ceramics observes of Satsuma ware, from which Kioto is hardly to be distinguished:

"Many of the products are very ingenious in form and odd in effect; but the ware has little to commend it either in beauty or national characteristics."

But here we beg leave to differ. To our thinking, the rich, creamy tints of Satsuma, its curious craquelé enamel, and bamboo twigs in bas-relief, with their slender leaves heavily gilded, are much more pleasing to the eye than the intermingled roses and ribbons, cherubs and doll-faced adults, which are the outgrowth of the French school, or the most fanciful creations of that art whose fundamental principle is the distortion of nature.

A NANKIN VASE AND COVER.

a free hand in the famous Chinese black. The drawing itself is more effective than it is correct, and many are the improvements (?) on nature

of real antiquity; but it is a faience which preserves so well the semblance of youth that the dubious question of its age can hardly be discussed with satisfaction. Kioto is nothing more than an imitation of Satsuma; but so perfect is it, and so like the genuine, that its depreciation has no basis save in the over-nice discriminations of connoisseurs who are apt to assign a fabulous value to mere age, and who discard all imitations, no matter how meritorious.

The colors used in the decoration of these two kinds of faience are, for the most part, pure, and are offset by patches of gilding. They run through an octave or so of the chromatic scale, but are applied in such judicious quantities that their variety produces only a pleasing effect. The decoration is wholly superficial, being applied after the enamel has been hardened, except where the fancy of the potter has prompted him to raise in bas-relief a sprig of bamboo, the pinion of a bird, a blade of grass, or an anomalous flower.

The pigments used are mixed in a peculiar way, or it may be

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which the decorator achieves with his fearless brush. I have noticed, however, that the artists of Satsuma and Kioto do not discard symmetry in their unique designs; but their idea of symmetry does not signify similarity. Each design has a central figure or object of special prominence, which is flanked by a number of details the sums of which appear to have about the same specific gravity; but on one side there may be two cranes volant, and on the other a single ornithological nondescript of twice the size. There is, however, a suggestion of equilibrium in the various parts of the design.

I have in my possession a tête-à-tête set of Kioto which I regard as particularly beautiful. It consists of a small tea-pot, a sugar-bowl, a creampitcher, two cups, and two saucers, the whole being arranged on a lacquered tray. idea of the relative cost of this ware and Satsuma, I will say that my tête-à-tête set cost me only ten dollars, tray included. The same thing in Satsuma would cost about three or perhaps four times that price. This set, however, is very simply ornamented. The more elaborately decorated pieces are more expensive. Its design is nevertheless a typical one, and, in my opinion, one of

pieces are very comely, the cream-pitcher in particular having a form of unique beauty. This little vessel has been fashioned in accordance with

madness of the Japanese artist which enables him to venture upon the most startling and inharmonious effects in color, and yet produce an ensemble of pleasing character.

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when the pitcher was yet soft clay in his hands, and left them to harden into two curled lips that quaintly droop over the sides. You will see that little touch frequently given to the rims of vases, to dishes in basket shape, and to many small pieces of varied utility.

The handles of the Kioto tea-cups which are now before me, and of a tall vase that is standing by, are odd little elbows of porcelain bamboo, colored a vivid green and with the joints gilded. The cups and the rest of the tea-set represent what appears to me a shallow marsh. In the foreground there is a plant with long reedy stems and dull-red flowers. Overhead a number of parti-colored cranes. and gilt-winged birds are circling amid sparse little patches of gold clouds. That is all. But the effect is singularly pleasing.

The vase, on the other hand, is literally overrun with flowers which are not unlike our clematis blossoms, but are colored brick-red, and a muddy plum. Down in one corner I see a knot of something that looks like violets, and overhead there is the inevitable stork in giant proportions. The centre of the design consists of two shoots of bamboo, with its long-fingered gilt leaves in bas-relief. I wish I could discover what method it is in the

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It is hardly possible for the collector or the every-day buyer to fail to recognize Satsuma and Kioto ware. True, he is more than apt to be at loss to determine which is which, but he is morally certain to know whether or not the article he purchases is one of the two. Their style is unique. The characteristics I have pointed out in them are combined in no other faience. Their cream-colored clay and craquelé enamel is not to be mistaken. More than once, I imagine, some unconscionable dealer will cheat you with Kioto when you wish to buy Satsuma. It really makes very little difference. It is quite as pretty. Only, on principle, one doesn't like to be deceived in such a matter. But what are we going to do about it? Study Japanese, perhaps, in order to be able to decipher the variable hieroglyphics which constitute the trade-marks and reveal the names of the manufactory and the maker? I hardly think so. Nor will we be likely to institute such careful and tedious comparisons as alone can teach us to tell the one ware from the other. We will buy Kioto and Satsuma indiscriminately, as we buy some of the beautiful Jones Majolica, and fancy it is the product of the world-renowned manufactories of Majorca or Faenza. And shall we be less æsthetic,