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Fire-flame Cooking Vessel (Ka'en Doki)

火焔土器

c. 2500 BC

Japan, Jōmon period

(c. 10,500-300 BC)

Earthenware with carved and applied decoration

Height: 61 cm (24 in.); Diameter: 55.8 cm (21 15/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1984.68

Location

235A Japanese

Fun Fact

Scientifically tested residues from Jōmon vessels reveal that their makers consumed detoxified acorns.

Description

Archaeologists call this kind of vessel “fire-flame,” ka’en in Japanese, because their tops resemble flames. No one knows why the design was created, or what it actually represents. This example is remarkable for the amount that is original. It was recently determined that the bottom from a different vessel was used during its reconstruction, creating a false impression of its intended scale; it would have been about four inches shorter. Since their lower portions were set into holes in the ground during use, bases of pots like these often deteriorated.

Video

Provenance

?-1984

(Gallery Kapitan, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1984-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (1985): 163-207. Reproduced: pp. 167 and 207, no. 176

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 3 archive.org

Munsterberg, Hugo, and Marjorie Munsterberg. World Ceramics: From Prehistoric to Modern Times. New York: Penguin Studio Books, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 18-19, no. 9

Cunningham, Michael R. and others. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 178-179

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 80 and 119, no. 85

Mackey, Maureen. Experience Clay. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 2003. Reproduced: p. 58, Fig. 3-24

Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. Reproduced: p. 13

Schirokauer, Conrad. A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Reproduced: p. 140, fig. 6.2

Bell, Julian. Mirror of the World: A New History of Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Reproduced: p. 26, plate 15

30,000 Years of Art: The Story of Human Creativity Across Time and Space. London: Phaidon, 2007. p. 87

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 16-17

Fortenberry, Diane, ed. The Art Museum. London; New York: Phaidon Press, 2017. Reproduced: P. 92, no. 1

Exhibition history

Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).

Asian Autumn: Early Ceramics from Japan and Korea. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 3, 1995).

Object in Focus: Jomon Pots: The World's Oldest Ceramic Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 26-August 26, 2001).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 7-July 8, 2019).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Fire-flame Cooking Vessel (Ka'en Doki)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1984.68|year=c. 2500 BC|access-date=24 September 2020|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Fire-flame Cooking Vessel (Ka'en Doki)

Fire-flame Cooking Vessel (Ka'en Doki)

火焔土器

Japan, Jōmon period

Location

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