The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 17, 2025
Tea Set with Chinese Landscapes
1893–1914
(Japanese, 1851–1914)
teapot height with lid: 9.2 cm (3 5/8 in.); width with handle: 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.); hot water cooler: 5.4 x 11.9 x 7.4 cm (2 1/8 x 4 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.); (each) drinking cup: 5 x 8.5 cm (1 15/16 x 3 3/8 in.)
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Images of famous sencha events that shows that these kinds of porcelains fit with objects, such as a stove and kettle, to form a complete set of utensils for tea preparation, and with ensembles of decorative objects meant to inspire creativity.Description
The theme of this sencha tea set is the Chinese scholar-recluse in an idyllic landscape. The teapot depicts two friends playing a board game on a promontory beyond a two-storied residence, while another figure comes across the entry bridge bearing bags of provisions, hung from the ends of a pole balanced across his shoulders.The kidney-shaped water cooler has a scene of a man gazing at a full moon in a dramatic mountain-scape stretching before a large compound in the woods. Another man, hunched over and carrying a heavy parcel tied to a pole over his shoulder, struggles to make his way up a hill to the site. The cooler also has a pair of applied nyoi staff-head forms for resting the tips of one’s thumb and index finger, like those on the water cooler with pine trees (see [19 ]).
Each of the five teacups has a landscape with an architectural structure and some human activity.
One cup shows a man with a staff walking away from a residence toward a boat, loaded with what might be a musical instrument wrapped for travel.
A second cup shows a man rowing a little skiff, which disturbs the otherwise still water. Behind him in the distance is an open-air pavilion. He is making his way toward a pair of figures playing a board game, much like the scene on the teapot. Down the hill from them is a residence; beyond this, a flock of geese approaches through the sky.
A third cup shows a man in a traveling robe leaning upon his staff as he crosses a bridge to reach a two-story building with a pitched roof, possibly a temple, set between trees. Past this structure, another man sits fishing in a boat.
A fourth cup shows a humbly dressed man with a broad-brimmed hat lugging a package tied to the end of a rod slung over his shoulder. In front of him is a two-story building flanked by deciduous trees and a man resting against the side of a sturdy stone bridge as he looks at a residence, or perhaps a set of roofed gates, further up the path.
The last cup has a man walking toward a group of three pavilions announced with a banner hanging from a tall post; beyond this are two large deciduous trees sheltering a stand of small conifers. Across the water from this site is another man sitting on the bank fishing with a large woven basket for his catch beside him.
- ?–2022James and Christine Heusinger, Berea, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art2022–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Vilbar, Sinead. "Colors of Kyoto: Modern ceramics of Japan.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 63, no. 2 (2023): 14–17. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14 archive.orgMaezaki, 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. 27, pp. 100–101Goodall, 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. 187, fig. 5
- 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=Tea Set with Chinese Landscapes|url=false|author=Seifū Yohei III|year=1893–1914|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.171