Cleveland Museum of Art

Lid for an Incense Burner

Seifū Yohei III

Date

1895–1914

Medium

Geometric openwork silver lid

Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Kyoto-based Japanese ceramist Seifū Yohei III (1851–1914) admired the glaze colors found on Chinese porcelain and tried to replicate them through intensive experimentation. His green and creamy white glazes were particularly well received. The combinations of colors with subtle molded and incised decorations in his ceramics respond powerfully to changes in light, creating a dynamic viewing experience. Names for the glazes, written in ink with a brush on the lids of the custom-made storage boxes for the works, often indicate a specific glaze or ware that had inspired him, even when the resulting color was distinctively his own. The silver lid was produced outside the studio by metalwork specialists.

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