Cleveland Museum of Art

Flower Vase with Butterflies

Seifū Yohei III

Date

1907–14

Medium

Porcelain with green glaze and carved and molded design

Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This flower vase has two pairs of butterflies forming low-relief roundels, one on each side. The butterflies face each other, one positioned above and the other below, their antennae curling up to a centrally placed floral motif. In the spaces between the pairs of insects, additional raised floral designs are set within vinelike extensions reminiscent of open metalwork banners and canopy adornments in Buddhist temples. The lip and the foot of the vase remain white, and the thinning of the green glaze within the higher-relief portions of the body decoration accentuates the designs. This work, like the sweets bowl CMA 2022.232 , has a box lid attribution to Yohei III by Yohei IV. His inscription is dated to the autumn of 1919. The box identifies the vase as in the hisokuyō (Chinese mise yao 秘色窯), or “mysterious color ware,” style.

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