Teacup from Teacups with a Hundred Sages

1893–1914

Seifū Yohei III 三代清風与平

(Japanese, 1851–1914)

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Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Medium

One from a set of five teacups; porcelain with underglaze blue

Measurements

Overall: 6.5 x 9 cm (2 9/16 x 3 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of James and Christine Heusinger 2022.169.1

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Seifū Yohei III (1851–1914) produced many works for tea gatherings where people drank Chinese-style leaf-tea (sencha).

Description

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 a stone table, chatting and drinking; one is seated on an enormous gourd. Of course, there is a stack of books on the table, and elsewhere, scrolls are being written upon or read—in one case held very close by a sage who is wearing glasses. The design was enormously popular in ceramics made for those engaged in literati culture.