Each piece in this collection has a delicate design of plum branches with a low-relief texture, overlapped by intersecting lines that represent the frozen surface of water with cracks. These items are signed in gold pigment at the base. Yohei II created many underglaze blue pieces similar to those made by Kiyomizu Shichibei. However, his work evolved into different styles towards the early 1870s. In 1873, Yohei II was appointed as a supplier to the Industrial Center of Kyoto Prefecture, which was part of Kyoto's efforts to reach an international market through Kobe's port. From 1875 until his death, he was involved in national projects to showcase Japanese ceramics worldwide. During this period, Yohei III apprenticed under Yohei II. It has been proposed that this set might be an early work of Yohei III, which he signed using his teacher's name. This set is decorated with flowers resembling Japanese textile patterns. It brings to mind the design of Yohei II's pair of vases with plum blossoms at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The formal trees created for public exhibitions have been transformed into the approachable blossoms suitable for the home environment. Although the designs are consistent across the pieces, each raised flower petal and pistil, as well as each incised line in the ice, were handcrafted, making each cup, bowl, and dish unique. The bottoms of two bowls:
Each item in this set has a delicate low-relief design of flowering plum branches over scattered, intersecting lines meant to resemble the cracked-ice surface of a frozen body of water and is signed on the base in gold pigment. While Yohei II produced many fine works in underglaze blue, like those produced by Kiyomizu Shichibei, he also made works in quite different styles later in his career, from the early 1870 s. In 1873, he was appointed purveyor to the Industrial Center of Kyoto Prefecture, a designation associated with Kyoto’s efforts to reach an international market through the port of Kobe; and from 1875 until his death, he was involved in national-level projects to present Japanese ceramics across the world. It was during this period that Yohei III was apprenticed to Yohei II, and it has been suggested that this set may in fact be an early example of Yohei III’s work, which he signed with his teacher’s name. Decorated with flowers resembling Japanese textile motifs, the set calls to mind the design of Yohei II’s pair of vases with plum blossoms in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Here, the elaborate trees created for a formal public exhibition setting have been translated into the approachable blossoms of the genteel domestic environment. While the designs are consistent across the pieces, each raised flower petal and pistil and each incised line in the ice was done by hand, so the cups, bowls, and dishes are similar yet unique.
View the original at Cleveland Museum of Art →Article 2 defines a museum as an institution that collects, keeps and displays materials on history, art, folklore, industry and natural science for public use, carries out research on them, and which has been registered under Chapter 2 of this Act. The registration is not decorative. In law, an unregistered collection open to the public is not a museum.
The cool part. The definition of keeping is given as including raising. That single parenthesis is why a zoo, an aquarium and a botanical garden sit inside museum law in Japan: the collection is allowed to be alive. Article 1 also grounds the statute in the Social Education Act and the Basic Act on Culture and the Arts, which places museums in education first and culture second.
Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →Use it A motif small enough to blind-deboss, which is where restraint actually shows.
Description source: museum curator text, translated — not generated