Monkey Do

After years of researching how the West has been influenced by the East, I decided to look for reciprocity. I finally found it in Japanese or Nippon, Moriage (pronounced "more-ih-yah-gi"). During the nineteenth century, and into the early twentieth century, Japanese porcelain makers found an enthusiastic market in Europe and America for their wares. The porcelain was intricately decorated with hand-painted Limoges-style roses and raised trailed-slip decoration. Slip is fluid clay applied like lace piping on cakes. The moriage technique was used on Satsuma ware and the later Dragon ware, but my interest lies in the Victorian-looking designs of Nippon ware. It was made specifically for export to the West.
The significance of the monkey is as a symbol for mimicry.