The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

High-Footed Bowl with Lotus Pond

1887–92

Seifū Yohei III

(Japanese, 1851–1914)
Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Porcelain with molded design and underglaze color
height: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.); Diameter: 23 cm (9 1/16 in.)
Gift of James and Christine Heusinger 2022.155
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This high-footed bowl simulates exploration of a pond both from underwater and from the sky.

Description

This high-footed bowl is an especially well-executed example of Yohei III’s work in underglaze blue combined with other underglaze colors.

This bowl is of a takatsuki shape, often used for offering bowls set before altars. Its flared foot has two raised bands, and the lip of the basin is everted. The exterior is painted delicately with an underglaze design of large lotuses, with the leaves, stems, and open flower in blue line and wash. The artist creates dewdrops by leaving domes of clay unpainted on the surface of one of the leaves so that one feels them when touching the bowl. A lotus bud and two swimming fish are painted under the glaze in red with washes to achieve pink, while the outlines are in red. A foliate motif with tendrils and little round fruits in blue floats along between the fish. The basin, down to where it joins the foot, has been covered with a bluish white color. The interior of the bowl has a single large lotus leaf with raised dewdrops and three lotus flowers in full bloom, two white and one pink. The center of the pink one has been left unpainted.
  • ?–2022
    James and Christine Heusinger, Berea, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2022–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Maezaki, Shinya and Sinéad Vilbar. Colors of Kyoto: The Seifū Yohei Ceramic Studio. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 82, pp. 82–83
    Goodall, Hollis. "Seifū Yohei III: Master of Finesse." Impressions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America 45, part 2 (2024): 178-193. Mentioned: p. 186; Reproduced: p. 184 (fig.4)
  • Colors of Kyoto: The Seifū Yohei Ceramic Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 19, 2023-March 10, 2024).
  • {{cite web|title=High-Footed Bowl with Lotus Pond|url=false|author=Seifū Yohei III|year=1887–92|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.155