Cleveland Museum of Art

Sake Pourer with Chrysanthemum, Orchid, and Plum

Seifū Yohei III

Date

c. 1887

Medium

Porcelain with underglaze blue

Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Seifū Yohei II and his successor, Seifū Yohei III, trained in ink painting. Their brush skills are seen in their underglaze cobalt blue designs. Orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, and plum, appearing on Yohei III’s sake pourer, are known as the Four Gentlemen. They symbolize the virtues of humility, integrity, endurance, and perseverance. This sake pourer is decorated with the Chinese theme of the Four Nobles, in which the qualities of a good person are represented by plant.

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