(Satsuma Tea Set) Vase with Bodhisattva of the South Sea and Arhats

Artist Unknown

Date1868-1912

PeriodMeiji Period

MediumEarthenware, overglaze gold and enamels

Dimensions12 5/8 × 6 11/16 in. (32 × 17 cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Josslyn, 1974

Object numberSN7401.2

Satsuma earthenware is low-fired ceramic ware featuring crackled glaze and polychrome decoration. It was originally produced in the Satsuma province on the island of Ky?sh?. However, the ware proved so popular with European consumers that ceramics in the Satsuma style were produced across Japan. Early Satsuma ceramics were strongly influenced by elegant Kyoto pottery and the Kan? school of painting, and often incorporated the school's negative space and use of gold into the designs. The ceramics later became crowded with intricate figures and decorative motifs, often in gold and other warm tones. These decorations transformed Satsuma wares into bearers of visual information about Japan, allowing Western viewers a chance to indulge their fantasies of an exotic, foreign land. These vases date from the Meiji period (1868-1912), and exhibit the crowded figural designs, rich gold enameling, and moriage (a decoration of raised enamels) that typified Satsuma ware at the time. It also features the popular design motif of rakan with dragons. Rakan are important figures in Mahayana Buddhism, men who were charged by Shakyamuni Buddha to protect the True Law on earth. While rakan are often depicted as old priests or monks, they have great spiritual powers. Here the holy men are shown alongside the bodhisattva Kannon, who appears as a woman in the upper center of each vase. This motif was used extensively before WWII. For the European and American consumers who purchased works such as these, however, the identities and religious importance of the figures would not have been of interest.

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