Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1893 — Chinese “Fake” Josses. [ARTICLE]

Chinese “Fake” Josses.

United States Consul Bedloe refers to> “josses” ns follows: Amoy and Canton are places which supply travelers and curio dealers with hideous idols, called “josses.” They are manufactured,wholesale and retail, “moderns” and “antiques,” orthodox or to order, as may lie desired. lam sorry to be obliged to state that tnuoh of tho joss business is a fraud, pious and otherwise. The regulation joss is either a very fat and placid gentleman, with a large genius for 1011-' mg, or a dignified, virtuous feraalo with a superfluous number of arms and hands. But these styles did not suit merchants who desired to astonish their folks at home. So, to pleaso their customers, the Mongolian joss-maker, with a keen eye for the main chance, turns out an assorted lot of clay hobgoblins warranted to freeze the blood of a small boy or produce hysterics in a nervous ana dyspeptic girl. In this category come the man with the tiger face nnd ferocious fangs, the so-called “God of Hunger,” who is only an every-day, half-starved opium smoker, and the “Snake God,” whoprobably is a phase of delirium tremens. None of these belong to Chinese art. They are simply “fakes” made for the markets of Christendom. Joss making is very simple. Tho manufacturer’s chief stock in trade consists of wooden or mctul molds. In these the wet clay is put into shape and allowed to dry. It is then touched up, dipped in molten glaze aud allowed to cool. The average workman can turn out a hundred a day. The clay is kaolin, running from red and gray to snow white, and costs about one cent per pound. The glaze is melted in a small charcoal furnace similar to the old-fashioned soldering furnaces of retired plumbers. The wages of a good artist vary from twenty to forty cents per day. The cost of a fair sized image is about three cents. He sells it for five cents to a native and for as ns $) to the credulous European or American tourist. —[Washington Star.