Huang Goodman · Art Forgotten

Art Forgotten

Art from public museum collections. A mismatched real Japanese law, and some other factoids.

Every object, image and description comes from the museum's own catalogue record, and every object links to its original. Japanese records are machine-translated into English; the museum's Japanese is kept beside the translation because it is the authoritative form. Each law carries its official number and links to e-Gov 法令検索, the Japanese government's statute database.

三彩弦文壺
{三彩弦文壺 · Maker unrecorded · 唐(7-8世紀) / Tang dynasty (7-8 C.) · Japan Search · 国立国会図書館}
Three-colors threaded filigree.

This piece features a plaid pattern with three colors. The base is made of green glaze, and brown glaze is used to fill it in. The bottom, from the hem down, is left unglazed.

縞模様の三彩で、緑釉をベースにして、褐釉を充填している作品である。裾から下は素地見せになっている。

View the original at Japan Search →
The law
文化財保護法
Act on Protection of Cultural Properties
昭和二十五年法律第二百十四号 · Act No. 214 of 1950

Article 1 sets a purpose larger than preservation: to preserve cultural properties AND to make use of them, contributing to the cultural advancement of the people and to the progress of world culture. Article 4 turns that outward. An owner must recognise the object as a precious national asset, preserve it for the public, and make it public as far as possible. Ownership here carries a duty to show.

The cool part. "Living National Treasure" appears nowhere in the statute. Article 71 requires that when an Important Intangible Cultural Property is designated, the minister must also certify its holder or holding group. Japan does not register the pot, it registers the potter. Article 96 is the one that reaches ordinary people: if you uncover a shell mound, a dwelling site or a tumulus, you must leave it exactly as it is and notify the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs without delay, and the Commissioner can freeze the ground for up to three months.

Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →

Use it Palette for a single-colour run: one ink, heavy stock, nothing else on the sheet.

Description source: museum curator text, translated — not generated