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Vase with Blossoming Plum and Short Poem Thumbnail

Vase with Blossoming Plum and Short Poem

Miyagawa Kozan (Japanese, 1842-1916) (Artist)

ca. 1904 (Meiji)

porcelain with underglaze blue, pink, and yellow
(Japan and Korea )

Around the year 950, the emperor received an anonymous poem that made him change his mind about removing an ancient plum tree that had recently died: "Since my lord commands, what can I do but obey; but the nightingales, when they ask about their nests-- whatever can I tell them?" The character for "nightingale" is perched upon the branch; amazingly, it (and the other characters) consists of colored clay, inserted into the cutout wall of the vessel.

Inscription

[Poem Transcription] Choku nareba itomo kashikoshi uguisu no yado wa to towaba ikaga kotaemu / Ki no Tsurayuki onna; [Poem Translation] Since my Lord commands, what can one do but obey? But the nightingales, when they ask about their nests- whatever can I tell them? (Poem written by Ki no Naishi, the daughter of the famous Heian-period poet Ki no Tsurayuki (ca.872-945)); [Seal] Xuande [Hsuan-te]; [Transcription] Makuzu gama Kozan sei; [Translation] Made by Kozan, Makuzu kiln; [Sticker] Japanese export sticker 1904

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.**

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis; Henry Walters, Baltimore, December, 1904, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

2012-2014	Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at World's Fairs, 1851-1939. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; Mint Museum of Art Uptown, Charlotte.
1994-1995	Bridging East and West: Japanese Ceramics from the Kozan Studio. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1984	Master Potters of Japan. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
8/25/1981	Treatment	examined for condition; surface cleaned

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Geographies

Japan, Yokohama (Place of Origin)

Measurements

Overall H: 14 x Diam: 12 5/16 in. (35.56 x 31.24 cm); Vase H: 12 1/2 x Diam: 12 5/16 in. (31.75 x 31.24 cm); Wooden Base H: 2 1/2 x Diam: 9 in. (6.35 x 22.86 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1904

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

49.1912

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Vase with Blossoming Plum and Short Poem

Inscription

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.**

Exhibitions

Conservation

Geographies

Measurements

Credit Line

Location in Museum

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

Do you have additional information?

Hours

Location

Phone

Vase with Blossoming Plum and Short Poem

Inscription

Provenance Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Exhibitions

Conservation

Geographies

Measurements

Credit Line

Location in Museum

Accession Number In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

Do you have additional information?

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.**

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.