Asian Art
Sweets Bowl with Plum Tree
CeramicsVessel
Details
- Author / creator
- Seifū Yohei IV (Japanese, 1872–1951)
- Object type
- Ceramics
- Date or period
- 1914–46
- Dimensions summary
- 11.5 × 21.5 cm
- Maker or workshop
- Seifū Yohei IV
- Period / style
- Art Nouveau
- Place of origin
- Japan
- Acquisition method
- Donation
- Credit line
- Gift of Professor Arthur Kinsley, 2022
- Image rights
- Public domain (CC0)
About this object
In Chinese culture, the plum symbolizes the virtue of perseverance. For his sweets bowl based on Qing dynasty (1644–1911) Chinese prototypes, Seifū Yohei IV first painted the gnarled boughs of a plum tree in iron oxide on the surface. Then he made the tree’s blossoms slightly raised by building up slip, or liquified clay. He painted their centers yellow. Before applying the blue glaze, he covered the blossoms with paper so that they remained white.
Materials and technique
Porcelain with underglaze color and modeled design
Signature and marks
清風 (““Seifū” incised on the base”); The storage box's lid is inscribed on both the top and the inside.: 清風 (“Seal on the inside of the box lid: “Seifū”)
