Cleveland Museum of Art

Prunus Vase with Amaranth

Seifū Yohei IV

Date

1914–46

Medium

Porcelain with yellow glaze and overglaze color enamel and gold

Culture

Japan, Taishō period (1912–26)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Yohei IV’s interest in bold, colorful designs is on full display in this vase shaped like a “prunus vase,” or meiping (Japanese meipin ). It has two colors of amaranthus on a yellow ground. It follows a design appearing on a sleeve-shaped vase by Yohei III. Yohei IV uses bright spring-green dots of overglaze enamel to suggest a ground plane in his yellow environment; he also uses red and magenta accented with wild gold cascades of dots for two plants he places on opposite sides of the vase, one much larger than the other. In Yohei III’s version, the body of the vessel is white, and the foliage of one plant is red with carefully painted veins in gold, while another plant strategically positioned behind it has a deep rust color, again carefully detailed in gold. In a sense, Yohei IV has deconstructed his father’s logical, balanced design and re-presented it as an emotive, lightheartedly chaotic one that sates the appetite for instant gratification, much as his father’s creation rewards the pursuit of elegance. Seifū Yohei IV continued to create works in the studio’s signature colors but also produced pieces with strong color and flare that were his interpretations of Qing dynasty (1644–1911) glazes.

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