Vase
1820
Medium
White porcelain decorated with gold on an iron red ground
Dimensions
H. 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)
Classification
Ceramics
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Charles Stewart Smith, 1893
Accession Number
93.3.197
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite small vase, crafted by Eiraku Hozen in 1820 during Japan's Edo period (1615–8), exemplifies the luxurious porcelain traditions of Kyoto's Eiraku kilns. Hozen, a master potter a renowned lineage, specialized in overglaze enamel techniques that blended Japanese elegance with Chinese inspirations. Standing just 3 5/8 inches (9.2 cm) tall, it was likely used for incense or floral arrangements in elite tea ceremonies or domestic altars, reflecting the era's prosperity and refined aesthetic tastes amid the Tokugawa shogunate's stability. The vase's white porcelain body is striking ag...
About the Artist
Eiraku Hozen · 1795–1854
Eiraku Hozen (1795–1854) was a celebrated Japanese ceramic artist and the sixteenth-generation head of the Nishimura family, a Kyoto dynasty of potters whose work was closely associated with the tastes of the imperial court and the refined aesthetic culture of the ancient capital. Operating under the artistic name Eiraku — a name that would become synonymous with a particular style of elegant, tec...