Cleveland Museum of Art

Gu-shaped Vase

Date

1912–14

Medium

Porcelain with crackled glaze

Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Seifū Yohei III mined the repertoire of Chinese vessel types, from ceramics modeled after ancient ritual bronzes to shapes developed in the Yuan (1279–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties. His designs tended to be formal and restrained, often featuring creamy white glazes suggestive of the hue of Ding ware and green glazes resembling Longquan ware. This gu -shaped vase has a cracked-ice glaze, which was once customarily called Ge (Japanese pronunciation Ka ), after the kiln where it purportedly originated during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). The glaze’s double-crackle pattern, featuring both deeper and shallower cracks, is called “gold threads and iron lines.” The effect was enhanced here by coating the vessel with ink or another stain, which was allowed to seep into the cracks before the surface was wiped clean. Gu -shaped vases are relatively slender cylinders that flare at both the mouth and foot with orbs or drumlike forms partway up the vessel.

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