lundi 16 juillet 2018

Appreciating The Finer Things With Japanese Cloisonne

By Dennis Graham


The thing about beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The thing is, only humankind has the eyes necessary to see it. Most other animals are attracted to their mates by smell, by pheromones. But humans are visual in nature. They see the beauty instead of smelling it. There is no denying that humanity is able to appreciate visual beauty. Now, this is not something that is unique to one culture or one country. In fact, this is something that is universal across the whole spectrum of humankind. But the way it is expressed can have a number of distinctions. Take for example Japanese cloisonne.

Cloisonne is a type of art. It is typically used to be paint things like jars, vases, and other such finery. Now, the word itself is French, but some of the most famous examples are decidedly East Asian in origin.

In the Meiji period, the samurai class, once proud and noble, was way down on its luck. Many of them were forced to subsist on a meager government income, a far cry from being among the most respected in their societies, serving at the pleasure of their lords and vassals. While many of them realized that their pay was not going to be enough, only one of them decided to do something about through artistic expression. That one samurai took some china that came from China and then disassembled it, finding out how it was made and in essence, reverse engineering the whole process. They were then able to produce a small dish of their own making.

Cloisonne is used for one thing. That would be to make what is dull bright. See, most plates and bowls are plain, with no decoration about them. True, they serve their purpose well enough with any such frivolity. But it would not hurt to look good while also being practical.

The way it is done is fairly simple. First, fine wires must be applied in order to lay out the area to be decorated. Then enamel paste is applied on to the designated areas, almost in the same manner as a child would color in a coloring book. Once that is done, the whole thing is heated and then subsequently polished.

There is still some use for it in the modern day. First of all, the process is timeless. Simply painting things straight on an empty canvas like a jar is all well and good, but there is far less care taken into it. Now, the cloisonne process, while taking a little longer, is also going to a cut above.

There are going to be some supplies that are needed. First will be the copper bowl or dish or plate or jar. Then some wires. Then some enamel, because the whole thing needs some coloring otherwise there would be no point to it.

Time of course is a factor. This is not a hobby that can be completed in a few minutes. This is something that will require patience.

The thing about human beings is that they are likely the only animal capable of significant abstract thought. They sure as hell are the only animal capable of creating art. The fact is, even when the species as a whole was still in its relative infancy, it was still creating and appreciating art. Paintings scrawled on the walls of cave prove that, as does hollowed out bones that served as rudimentary flutes. Given all that evidence, it can be rightly inferred that man has appreciated the arts for at least a few thousand generations before the modern era.




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