Tong-Shaped Vase with Flowers and Grasses

Many of the vases created by Yohei III and IV were made with reference to and in emulation of Chinese ceramics in both form and glazing. The vessel type called tongping, pronounced tōbin in Japanese, is tall and cylindrical, like the thick length of bamboo referenced in the shape of the ideograph tong 筒. Unlike the ancient gu, hu, and guan, this form did not emerge in China until the Ming dynasty, and many such vases date to the early Qing dynasty.

Two green-glazed vases, CMA 2022.225 by Yohei III and this one by Yohei IV, are interpretations of this form. Yohei III’s version has slightly hunched shoulders and is somewhat wider at the top below the small neck and lip. Yohei IV’s vase is more angular. The wide rack of molded cloud encircling the Yohei III vase rises subtly from very low relief banding above and below it, accentuating the vessel’s rounded edges and complementing the form. In contrast, the allover flower vine pattern on the body and “seven treasures” pattern at the collar of the vase by Yohei IV evokes a garment’s cuffed sleeve, like the common English appellation for this type of vessel—“sleeve vase.”