Collection Online as of March 20, 2023

Sake Bottle with Three Figures

late 1700s

Part of a set. See all set records

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Porcelain with overglaze enamel and gold decoration (Hizen ware, Arita type)

Diameter: 14.3 cm (5 5/8 in.); with cover: 27.2 cm (10 11/16 in.); without cover: 24.2 cm (9 1/2 in.)

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection 1964.272

Location

not on view

Description

The bottle features three elegantly drawn figures: a beautiful woman, a young man, and a priest. The artist used a fine-haired brush to draw these figures in colored enamel onto the porcelain bottle, which had already been given a clear glaze. A final firing fused the enamel to the form. The name derives from the port of Imari from where Japanese porcelains were shipped to other cities in Japan, China, and Europe.

Provenance

(N. V. Hammer, Inc., New York); Severance and Greta Millikin, Cleveland, 1961.

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 156, no. 160

Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art (6/30–9/5/1982): “The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art”

Cleveland Museum of Art (7/5–9/2/1990): “The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection”

Later Japanese Art Gallery Rotation (Gallery 113); February 20 - May 6, 2003.

Later Japanese Art Gallery Rotation (Gallery 113); March 18 - November 17, 2004.

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 236); April 19, 2013 - December 24, 2013

The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-August 22, 1982).

The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).

Asian Autumn: Splendid Variety: 18th-Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1993-March 6, 1994).