Sake Flask
1500s
Maker Unknown
Japanese Art
Sake Flask, 1500s. Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573). Black laquered wood with red lacquer; diameter: 24 cm (9 7/16 in.); overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mitsuru Tajima 1991.47.2 This flask contained rice wine, or sake. Its wood body was shaped by a lathe before black lacquer was applied to the surface. A red lacquer design of grapevines, an auspicious motif, covers the surface. With their numerous, long-lasting fruits, grapevines traditionally symbolized fertility and longevity in East Asia. The evocative imagery of brushed leaves and bunches of grapes suggest that the artist referred to a particular painting when decorating this vase.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Lacquer
- Formatted Medium
- Black laquered wood with red lacquer
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 24 cm (9 7/16 in.); Overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.)
- Departments
- Japanese Art
- Accession Number
- 1991.47.2
- Credit Line
- Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mitsuru Tajima
- Exhibitions
- The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991: Notable Acquisitions.<br>Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991: The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th-Century Art in Japan.
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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