Bowl from Nesting Bowls with Daoist Immortals (1893–1914): Art, History and Details

Bowl from Nesting Bowls with Daoist Immortals (1893–1914) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Seifū Yohei III (Japanese, 1851–1914).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Yohei III was capable of ink painting–like compositions in underglaze blue, as well as more decorative ones like that on this set of three nesting bowls. Bowls with very similar designs in five colors were produced in the reign of the Wanli emperor (r. 1572–1620) during the Ming dynasty, and Yohei must have had direct access to one of these or to a close copy. A scene of Daoist immortals is presented on the bowls. On each one, the ground plane is defined with a blue wash. Four lanterns are evenly spaced around the bowl. Two are flanked with linked-piece metalwork banners of the seven treasures. The alternate altars are adorned with textile banners. In between them are four immortals, each standing beneath a tree with small plants surrounding his feet. Two of the immortals hold fruit on a tray. Another carries an elixir-filled ewer and a willow branch. The fourth holds a swastika (manji), here an auspicious symbol, and a flower. Curiously, the inscription inside each footring reads “Made by Seifu of Great Japan,” in emulation of the dynasty and reign inscriptions that appear on Chinese ceramics; however, one can also see through the translucent glaze another inscription, “Seifu Yohei,” written in large characters within a double band of blue on the largest bowl.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl from Nesting Bowls with Daoist Immortals
• Date: 1893–1914
• Creator attribution: Seifū Yohei III (Japanese, 1851–1914)
• Culture: Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Outer bowl from a set of three bowls; porcelain with underglaze blue
• Dimensions: Overall: 9.9 x 23.9 cm (3 7/8 x 9 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 2022.185.3

A detail from the museum

In the bottom of each bowl is a scene of two robed immortals who appear to stand on a precipice in a mountainous landscape high in the clouds, with celestial orbs over their heads.

Collection credit

Gift of James and Christine Heusinger

Further reading listed by the museum

• Maezaki, Shinya and Sinéad Vilbar. Colors of Kyoto: The Seifū Yohei Ceramic Studio. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.