The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Water Cooler from Tea Set with Chinese Landscape

1893–1914

Seifū Yohei III

(Japanese, 1851–1914)
Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Porcelain with underglaze blue
5.4 x 11.9 x 7.4 cm (2 1/8 x 4 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.)
Gift of James and Christine Heusinger 2022.171.2
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This is a yuzamashi, a container used to cool boiled water to just the right temperature for the best flavor when steeping.

Description

The kidney-shaped water cooler, yuzamashi, 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.
  • ?–2022
    James and Christine Heusinger, Berea, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2022–
    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.org
    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. 27, pp. 100–101
    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. 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=Water Cooler from Tea Set with Chinese Landscape|url=false|author=Seifū Yohei III|year=1893–1914|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.171.2