June 18, 1896.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE KEPURI.
KERAMICS AND METAL WORK IN able notice from the judges. The first prize
JAPAN.
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Perhaps it is not quite correct to speak of this exhibition as displaying any marked pro- gress in metal work, for, after all, Shomin and his brother artists have been as well represented on previous occasions. But in keramics a step in advance has certainly to be recorded. Shozan and Seifu have achieved fresh triumphs: the former by the exquisite delicacy of his monochrome glazes combined with designs sous couverte; the latter by his cludons and jewelled porcelains. These men, and with them we may class Takemoto, are doing work that stands entirely distinct from any of the pre-Meiji masterpieces, and approaches very closely to the celebrated wares of China.
Cloisonné and the so-called +4 cloisonless enamels appear to have reached their summit of success: the exhibition offered no specimen without a precedent. Nor can we say that carvers in ivory and wood distinguished them-. selves more than usual.
A number of the finest specimens in all classes were secured by the Imperial Household Department. The Emperor must spend a large sum yearly in this manner. What such patronage signifies may be appreciated when
we remember the immense satisfaction ex- perienced by a Japanese subject fortunate enough to win his Sovereign's approval. Profit is of no account to him in comparison with such a distinction.-Japan Mail.
was justly awarded to a masterpiece by that prince of modern metal workers, Shomin. The Spring Exhibition of fine-art products It was a littl tray, having a seascape chiselled in Uyeno Park was closed on the 25th May on its surface-wares in the foreground break- having remained open from the 1st of April, a ing into silver ripples where moonlight touched longer period than usual. On the whole, the them through clouds, dusky canvassed junks verdict must be, we think, that no signal pro drifting over their own shadows in the mid. gress has been displayed except in the sec-distance, and mountains melting into the som- tions of keramics and metal work. As to breness of night in the background. Such the latter, it is singular but apparently creations in metal, transferred, idealized, and true that the extraordinary capacity of Japan. enlarged from the tsuba of old times, bear as- еве artists in chiselling silver, copper, tounding testimony to the artistic courage and shakudo, and shibuichi has only recently technical force of the men that produce them. begun to be recognised, from a practical By-and-by the happy possessors of Shomin's point of view, by foreigners, especially by foreign chefs-d'œuvre will understand their good for residents. A year or two ago it used to be the tune. The particular specimen of which we habit to procure cups for racing and boating have been speaking, like many others from the prizes or for presentation purposes from Hong- same hand, was purchased for the Imperial kong, and to this day one meets folks who labour collection. under the extraordinary delusion that Chinese silversmiths are better than Japanese. No one that has ever had an opportunity of making a fair comparison can entertain the smallest doubt on the subject. Chinese silver work is not to be mentioned in the same breath with Japanese. The Hongkong or Canton artisan simply casts the silver in a mould or beats out a répousé design upon it. The whole process is purely mechanical. There is no employment of the chisel; the finish is rough and inelegant, and the designs are seldom redeemed by the slightest evidence of artistic conception. Choice Japanese work is precisely the contrary of all that. When the répoussé process is used, it serves only to give relief to the design, or to reduce the mass of metal, and is merely preli- minary to chiselling, in which wonderful skill and power are shown. There is no such metal work produced elsewhere in the world. designing shapes and adapting decoration to special purposes, the superiority doubtless lies with the artists of the West, but so far as techni- cal skill in concerned, the Japanese are incom- parable. That might easily have been inferred by any one familiar with the marvellous chisel- ling seen on their sword furniture. But some- how the inference was not drawn. The worker in metals seems to have been regarded as a thing of the past, and only of late have the foreign residents awakened to the fact that an easy opportunity presents itself to obtain, at extraordinarily low prices, exquisite tea and coffee sets, dessert services, salvers, and, such things-articles that may be handed down from generation to generation, becoming more and more valuable as years go by. Musashiya's well-known bric-a-brac store prepared the path to
the discovery in Yokohama, but it was not until the opening of Konoike's estab- lishment that people began to thoroughly ap- preciate the truth. Yet, while heartily ap- plauding what Konoike has done, we cannot pretend to think that his work stands nearly in the first rank. Perhaps, on the whole, it satis- fies the purposes to which it is applied, but it emphatically invites the same criticism as the more extensive productions of Ikeda in Kyoto, and his agent Nakamura in Tokyo, namely, that the labour of the chiseller is re- duced to a minimum, that fineness of execution is sacrificed to richness of effect, and that the prime purpose of the artizan is to attract the custom of foreigners looking for profusion of ornament rather than for perfection of finish. Let any one place under a magnifying glass-racing in the North that the "Sport of Kings" and Japanese metal work should never be pur- chased without previous examination under a magnifying glass-a specimen from Konoike's store and an example of the Japanese silversmith's highest process the process known as koshimoto- bori: the difference will be recognised instantly. It may indeed be urged that the tea-pots and flower-bowls of Konoike and Ikeda are as finely chiselled as such things need be. That is true in a sense. But what we have to remember is that while such examples will be forthcoming in large quantities at low rates for many years, the really grand work of the Japanese chiseller must tend more and more to command the price it represents when measured by a Western standard of value, and that, after all, unless one buys for mere household purposes, one should endeavour to procure specimens standing above the rank and file of their class. A few specimens of that quality were displayed in the Uyeno Exhibi- tion. They all received more or less favour-
TIENTSIN.
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local jeremiads predicting that the port may permanently close.. The trouble was caused not by loess silt, but by a hard sand brought down by freshets in the Hung-ho. This sand has. formed adamant like bars and beds in the stream, and the present scour cannot move it. The block is a great nuisance to everybody; at one time there have been twenty steamers at the bar or in the river, and even the large re- sources of the local Tug and Lighter Company: have been unequal to the occasion.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Tientsin, 26th May. Hongkong racing men will feel an interest in our recent Meeting. What promised on its merits to be one of the most interesting meetings of the decade was spoiled by heat and wind. The thermometer was actually two and three degrees above the century, rendering life burdensome and racing almost a nuisance.
The year's griffins gave the best display seen for a long time, the first three ponies actually beating the time record, notwithstanding the heat. Ad rance, the winner of the Maidens, Criterion Stakes, and Champions, is a phenomenally fine pony, indubitably the best of a fine lot. He belongs to Mr. Andrew, a nom de cours for one of the artificers or drivers on the China Railway and a thorough good sport," a Yorkshireman, if I mistake not, and like all the Tykes showing an irresistable bias to the horse and all his works. It speaks volumes for
is possible at all to men of modest means; and that so fire a pony should be picked up and trained at Tongshan and be sent down here to beat all the local cracks is a fine encourage- ment to the "small-stable owners." A cheer ful feature of the entries this spring was that so many new men showed up; there were no leviathan stables and the honours were capitally divided. In the Champions the mile was done in the fine time of 2 mín. 7 secs., but unhappily the last quarter was negotiated in the very teeth of a Northern "duster" and took 37 seconds. The Maidens was a record (1.31 3/5 for the three-quarters).
Railway matters are going on apace. The last development is a small three mile branch from Tientsin to the great East Arsenal. Al though the arsenal has been going for twenty odd years all the ordnance and heavy material have had to be taken away by small boats or in carts over an unmacadamized road The waste in time and labour may be imagined.
The Peiho river within seven miles of Tientsin has shoaled up so as to block the whole trade of the port. In some of the reaches there is barely seven feet and only one or two of the local tow boats can overcome the difficulties. We have often experienced this before and there is no reason to listen too intently to the
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Chang Chih-tung not long ago sent in a tremendous memorial for a trunk line from Peking to Canton to be made under a German syndicate headed by Krupp of Essen. Nothing is known of the merits or demerits of the scheme, but the only immediate result was that His Excellency was peremptorily told to confine his despatches hereafter to so many hundreds of characters.
The Tientsin University is developing rapidly. The last batch of students is almost entirely from the Central Provinces; this is to balance the fact that the seniors are nearly all Hong- kong Cantonese. Sheng Taotai seems really in earnest about the institution. A large new wing about to be built. There are now 150 students.
Her Majesty's birthday was celebrated by cricket match, Tientsin v H.M.S. Linnet. The result was disastrous to the local pride, for the Linnets in one innings (126) defeated Tientsin in two (42 and 38). For the first time a cocoa- nut matting pitch was tried; this, allied to fine bowling, good fielding, and the first class wicketkeeping (by Mr. Garde) was too much for the locals.
CANTON NOTES.
[FROM THE CHUNG NGOI BAN PO The 15th instant, being the Dragon-boat festival, is to be observed as a general holiday in Canton.
The Kaifong people of the Kwai-tak Gate have recently sent a petition to the new Governor asking him to take steps to prevent any further trouble being created by the Banner people, who are well known as the most mischievous race and who recently revolted against the Superintendent of the police force. It is said that the Viceroy and the Tartar General have sent memorial to the throne relating the cir- cumstances of the recent trouble.
On the 7th and 8th instant rain fell heavily in Canton and in the surrounding districts. Some streets in Canton are flooded owing to the high tide. The West river and the Pekong are respectively reported to be six feet and five feet higher than usual.
Owing to the famine in Kwangsi a good number of people have gone to the neighbour- ing district of Limchow to seek the necessities of life. The Canton Government a few days ago sent 4,041,501 catties of rice to Limchów for distribution to the sufferers.
On the 6th inst. a band of one hundred robbers made an attack on the village of Ping- ti. Twenty-eight houses were ransacked The lukongs, who were few in number, dared not offer resistance and were all tied up by the robbers. A few villagers who tried to fight against the robbers were driven away. The robbers on their departure took a lukong along with them as hostage.
A typhoon was experienced in Shui-hing district on the 1st instant. Over ten houses were blown down, some large trees were uprooted, and a good number of houses were unroofed.
As plague has made its appearance in San-50, in Kuchow district, many people removed to live along the beach. They thought that localities near the water were safe and free from plague. On the 1st instant a typhoon occurred there, and all the houses along the beach were blown down, so that the people have been compelled to remove back to their old re- sidences.
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