The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 24, 2025
Sweets Bowl with Plum Tree
1914–46
(Japanese, 1872–1951)
11.5 x 21.5 cm (4 1/2 x 8 7/16 in.)
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Broad access to high-quality Chinese ceramics occasioned by the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and the dispersal of elite Chinese collections presented Seifū Yohei IV with models for both molded decoration and painted motifs.Description
In this sweets bowl, Yohei IV combines ink painting techniques with advanced glazing techniques. He has painted the gnarled boughs of a plum tree in iron oxide on the surface of the bowl. The tree’s blossoms are made slightly in relief by a build-up of slip. Their centers are painted with yellow. All of this is under a blue glaze that his father developed and named “evening moon” (tsukiyoi). Before applying the glaze, he would have covered the blossoms with paper so that they remained white. It appears that after applying the tsukiyoi glaze, he then went back over the design with iron oxide to add luster and dimensionality to the branches before applying a transparent glaze.- ?–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: p. 16 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. 72, p. 163
- 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=Sweets Bowl with Plum Tree|url=false|author=Seifū Yohei IV|year=1914–46|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.242