Teacup from Teacups with a Hundred Sages
Medium
One from a set of five teacups; porcelain with underglaze blue
Dimensions
6.5 × 9 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of James and Christine Heusinger
Accession Number
2022.169.2
Tags
About this artwork
Each of these five teacups has a painting of identical design in underglaze blue, but as the tiny figures are drawn entirely by hand, each cup has its own personality. The theme of the sencha cups is an assembly of sages or immortals, literally “a hundred venerable [people]” (hyakurō). The myriad figures crowd the scene in groups. The god of longevity, with his tall forehead, sits with his cranes, having flown in from Mt. Penglai on the Isle of the Immortals. Seven long-bearded sages sit around...