CHAPTER VI
HISTORIC COLOR
To continue our color study we must next ask what has been done with it in the past and how it has been used and combined. Our knowledge would be incomplete without the experience of the past. The simplest and easiest way will be to consult the Grammar of Ornament, by Owen Jones, and L’Ornement Polychrome, by Racinet, the two best books of the kind, remembering, however, that there are several editions of each, varying in the quality of the coloring of the plates, and that even the best of these do not succeed in thoroughly reproducing the rare harmonies of color attained in the pictures, rugs, pottery, silks, metal, and jewel work that served as models. For these we must turn to the museums, and there is where the real lover of, and worker in, color must go for examples of the most skilful use of color by man up to this time. To many of them age has helped to give the great charm they possess, by fading and refining the colors so that they blend more perfectly with each other.
Unfortunately, no mention is made in the Grammar of Ornament of Japanese color, and Racinet gives but small space to it. Since the publication of these books we have become familiar with it even in the shop windows. We must bear in mind, however, that intercourse with western nations and the increasing demand for Japanese goods is already lowering their artistic standard, especially as they are making many goods entirely for western markets, so that for their best work we must look for old specimens made when Japan was a shut-in nation. As a whole, nothing finer can be found. For pure coloring, for the most complex and happiest combinations, they have no equals. Thorough study of these is one of the best schools for designers. The Japanese themselves are taught by being made to copy the best old works.
The Japanese love of color and their sense of fitness went so far that they even changed the ornaments of their rooms with the changing seasons. Nay, more, their women wore garments of which the embroidery harmonized with the different months: cherry, apple, pear blossoms when the fruit trees bloomed, colored leaves in the autumn, and so on, keeping in tune with the year, and getting great enjoyment out of things too little thought of by us.
At this point in his course the student will be wise to bear four things in mind: First, that as this is the study of color, not form, he should confine his attention to the colors as far as possible, as a fine design may tend to warp the judgment of them. Secondly, that different lights may vary what is really the same color. Thirdly, that if he isolates one color from another by means of such a card with a small opening in it as is to be found with the color screens at the end of this book, he will be greatly helped to understand it. Fourthly, that he should pay special attention to the proportions of the colors.
The following plates have been taken from specimens of color of different nations, and are given in simple proportions of quality and quantity, the latter in one-hundredths, as nearly as it is possible to measure, when the design may be much complicated and broken up. In studying these with reference to making the plates, it has seemed probable that those who made them took their color in many instances directly from nature; as, for instance, Plate LIV reminds one of the qualities and quantities of color of a gayly feathered parrot. It is hoped that these plates may help to create a taste for hard study of whatever originals may be at hand in books, shops, private houses, or museums.
Plate LXXXIV is a drawing of the antique rug from which Plate LXXXV is reduced. By comparison the student will see how these and the other plates have been made.