Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "519675",
    "label": "Teacup from Teacups with a Hundred Sages",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "519675",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Teacup from Teacups with a Hundred Sages",
    "description": "Each of these five teacups has a painting of identical design in underglaze blue, but as the tiny figures are drawn entirely by hand, each cup has its own personality. The theme of the <em>sencha </em>cups is an assembly of sages or immortals, literally “a hundred venerable [people]” (<em>hyakurō</em>). The myriad figures crowd the scene in groups. The god of longevity, with his tall forehead, sits with his cranes, having flown in from Mt. Penglai on the Isle of the Immortals. Seven long-bearded sages sit around a stone table, chatting and drinking; one is seated on an enormous gourd. Of course, there is a stack of books on the table, and elsewhere, scrolls are being written upon or read—in one case held very close by a sage who is wearing glasses. The design was enormously popular in ceramics made for those engaged in literati culture.",
    "date": "1893–1914",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2022.169.1",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "creators": [
        299428
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Ceramic"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.169.1/2022.169.1_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.169.1/2022.169.1_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.169.1/2022.169.1_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 6.5 x 9 cm (2 9/16 x 3 9/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)"
    ],
    "accession": "2022.169.1"
}

{
    "tec": "One from a set of five teacups; porcelain with underglaze blue",
    "tombstone": "Teacup from Teacups with a Hundred Sages, 1893–1914. Seifū Yohei III (Japanese, 1851–1914). One from a set of five teacups; porcelain with underglaze blue; overall: 6.5 x 9 cm (2 9/16 x 3 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of James and Christine Heusinger, 2022.169.1",
    "collection": "Japanese Art",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "清風造",
            "inscription_translation": "Inscription on base: \"Made by Seifu\""
        }
    ],
    "didYouKnow": "Seifū Yohei III (1851–1914) produced many works for tea gatherings where people drank Chinese-style leaf-tea (<em>sencha</em>)<em>.</em>",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Maezaki, Shinya and Sinéad Vilbar. <em>Colors of Kyoto: The Seifū Yohei Ceramic Studio</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 25, p. 97"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2022.169.1",
    "creditline": "Gift of James and Christine Heusinger",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 09:07:26.782000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.169.1/2022.169.1_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 519675,
    "dept": "Japanese Art",
    "coll": "Japanese Art",
    "med": "One from a set of five teacups; porcelain with underglaze blue",
    "creatorTags": [
        "male",
        "Asian (from 1900 to present)"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.169.1/2022.169.1_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "75b9982603cb26ba"
}