Square Bottle with Squirrel and Grapes
Unknown Artist
late 1600s
Medium
porcelain with overglaze color enamel (possibly Hizen ware, Kakiemon type)
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.218,"width":0.083}}
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
Accession Number
1964.261
About this artwork
In the 1600s, Korean and Japanese elites could enjoy wine from Europe. In his 1636 travel diary called Haecharok, Kim Seryeom, a vice director of Korean envoys to Japan, recorded that the head of Japan’s Tsusima Island treated him to Western red wine. Therefore, export porcelain ware like Square Bottle with Squirrel and Grapes could have been made as a wine bottle.