Faience definition

Okamuia Yasutaro, commonly called Shozan, produces specimens which only a very acute connoisseur can distinguish from the work of Nomura Ninsei; Tanzan Rokuros half-tint enamels and soft creamy glazes would have stood high in any epoch; Taizan YOhei produces Awata faience not inferior to that of former days; Kagiya SObei worthily supports the reputation of the KinkOzan ware; Kawamoto Eijiro has made to the order of a well-known KiOto firm many specimens now figuring in foreign collections as old masterpieces; and ItO TOzan succeeds in decorating faience with seven colors sons couverte (black, green, blue, russetred, tea-brown, purple and peach), a feat never before accomplished.

Seifu YOhei, however, has the special faculty of manufacturing monochromatic and jewelled porcelain and faience, which differ essentially from the traditional Kioto types, their models being taken directly from China.

Its only notable production of a ceramic character was the work of Miura Kenya (1830-1843), who followed the methods of the celebrated Haritsu (I 6881704) of KiOto in decorating plain or lacquered wood with mosaics of raku faience having colored glazes.

Every year large quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well as carefulness of execution the results are praiseworthy.