The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Flower Vase with Floral Scroll

1893–1914
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The center of each chrysanthemum has a crescent-shaped design at the top filled with a very pale yellow wash under the transparent glaze.

Description

The upper part of this vase is painted in underglaze blue with a floral scroll of leaves accentuated with a single chrysanthemum motif on each face and bound at top and bottom with single blue lines. The box lid for the vase is short on detail; the inscription notes only that it is a flower vase with underglaze blue.

It is possible that the box is a mismatch because the inscription does not mention the vase’s more distinctive feature: the deep green glaze on its lower half, which is seen much less frequently among Yohei III’s works. This glaze may be an example of a dark green porcelain glaze called rōkanji, which the artist invented in 1892. The name of the glaze comes from Chinese, in which it is pronounced langgan. It may literally mean “tinkling sound of jade” and could refer to malachite, among other proposed identifications.
  • ?–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. 48, pp. 122–123
  • {{cite web|title=Flower Vase with Floral Scroll|url=false|author=Seifū Yohei III|year=1893–1914|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.192