The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Lidded jar that widens at the rim and curves narrower at the base, topped with a flat, circular lid that curves slightly down into soft edges occasionally curving up to points. A light blue vessel, touches of a hazy, pale bronze color colors the edges and even, vertical stripes circling the body, appearing most solid on the lid's rim.

Lidded Sake Jar

1989

Kawase Shinobu

(Japanese, b. 1950)
Japan, Shōwa period (1926–89)
Porcelain with blue-green glaze
16.5 x 21.6 cm (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2023.17
© Kawase Shinobu
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Kawase Shinobu receives a stipend from the Japanese government to help him preserve the techniques he practices for future generations.

Description

Kawase Shinobu comes from a family of potters with more than a century of tradition in engaging with Chinese prototypes. The jar’s name in Japanese, shukaiko, literally “sake gathering jar,” references the shape of containers that first arrived by sea from China carrying rice wine. The jar has a ribbed surface with a lavender-tinted blue-green glaze. The lid is shaped like a lotus leaf.
  • ?–2023
    (Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., Japanese Art, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection: Feb. 11-Apr. 3, 1983, Smithsonian Institution, Wash. D.C., May 18-July 17, 1983, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution; London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 57, 60, 65, cat. no. 129–131, 152
    Masami, Shioda. “Kawase Shinobu: Delicate Forms and Rich Blues.” Ceramics Art and Perception 81 (2010): pp. 3–7.
    Kawase, Shinobu 川瀬忍. Kawase shinobu no seiji: Tensei kara shizukanaru ao e [川瀬忍の青磁: 天青から静かなる青へ= Celadon works by Kawase Shinobu]. Tokyo: Kikuchi bijutsu zaidan, 2011.
    Kawase Shinobu: Sakutō 50nen no aida [川瀬忍 : 作陶50年の間 = Kawase Shinobu: fifty years of celadon making]. Tokyo: Musée Tomo, 2018.
  • Contemporary Calligraphy and Clay. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7, 2024-June 15, 2025).
    10 X 10 Past And Present: Japanese Masters Of Ceramics. Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., Japanese Art at the Winter Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY (January 20–29, 2023).
    Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (February 11-April 3, 1983); Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England (May 18-July 17, 1983).
  • {{cite web|title=Lidded Sake Jar|url=false|author=Kawase Shinobu|year=1989|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.17