Collection record · Objects & craft
Water Container with Shell and Seaweed
The collection record classifies this work as ceramic. It is dated 1914–46. Recorded culture or place: Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taishō period (1912–26).
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Water Container with Shell and Seaweed
- Date
- 1914–46
- Culture / origin
- Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taishō period (1912–26)
- Materials and technique
- Porcelain with underglaze blue, blue glaze and molded design and lacquered wood lid
- Dimensions
- height: 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); Diameter: 14 cm (5 1/2 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Seifū Yohei IV (Japanese, 1872–1951)
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2022.212
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Yohei IV chose an aquatic theme for this mizusashi. He applied clay to the surface and molded the shape of a large conch on one side and, on the other, a clam and a scallop. The finer details he incised into the surface of his low-relief shapes. He then painted seaweed as though it were coming out from behind the sea creatures, and he further set off the animals using a masking technique with a gradated blue surround. Finally, he applied a translucent blue glaze, identified on the box as mizusai, over the entire body of the vessel. The resulting effect is that one imagines having descended through the water to the ocean floor.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of James and Christine Heusinger · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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