Water jar
ca. 1705
Medium
Clay; bluish-gray glaze, streaked showing white underglaze; design modeled in white and brown slip, in low relief; meander borders in white and blue (Tokyo ware)
Dimensions
H. 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm); Diam. 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm)
Classification
Ceramics
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936
Accession Number
36.120.634a, b
Art Historical Context
This elegant water jar, created by Ogata Kenzan around1705 during Japan's Edo period (16151868), captures the refined artistry of a time when ceramics flourished amid cultural prosperity and the rise of the tea ceremony. Kenzan, a potter and younger brother of the Rinpa painter Ogata Kōrin, painting techniques with pottery, producing wares prized for their poetic simplicity and naturalistic motifs. As Tokyo ware—made in the bustling capital then known as Edo—this jar reflects urban innovation in ceramic production. Crafted from clay, the jar features a bluish-gray glaze streaked to reveal whi...
About the Artist
Ogata Kenzan · 1663–1743
Japanese, 1663–1743