The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Vertically long hanging scroll depicting a cylindrical, white vase overflowing with pink and purple flowers and branches with white blossoms or red berries in the center right. Grey-blue dragons pattern the vase, a spongy, green and blue rock standing in front. Lower left, white and pink flowers with green-brown fruit fill a shallow basket, a cricket below. In the lower right, a bowl filled with water is surrounded by crabs and skinny, lobster-like creatures.

Vase of Flowers with Grasshopper, Marine Life, and Garden Rock

late 1800s

Okabe Ko

(Japanese)
Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Overall: 170.2 x 87.7 cm (67 x 34 1/2 in.); Painting only: 126.4 x 56 cm (49 3/4 x 22 1/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1990.68
Location: Not on view

Description

A great interest in Western scientific studies developed in Japan during the late Edo period (1615-1868) and into the Meiji era (1868-1912). One outcome of this phenomenon in the visual arts was the detailed portrayal of plant, animal, and marine life. This painting is an assemblage of objects carefully observed from nature, but not usually seen together.
  • {{cite web|title=Vase of Flowers with Grasshopper, Marine Life, and Garden Rock|url=false|author=Okabe Ko|year=late 1800s|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.68