Skip Navigation

Vase

Kitaoji Rosanjin

Asian Art

MEDIUM Porcelain
  • Place Made: Japan
  • DATES ca. 1945
    PERIOD Showa Period
    DIMENSIONS 10 5/8 x 5 3/8 in. (27 x 13.7 cm)  (show scale)
    INSCRIPTIONS Quatrain of five-syllable lines from Chinese-style poem by Zen monk, Ryokan (1758-1831), written in the author's calligraphic style by Rosanjin: When we brothers, older and younger, have a chance to meet, Both of us now have eyebrows turning gray and drooping. We enjoy the moment, and rejoice, our world is calm and peaceful, And day after day can get drunk as though we are fools. (Translation John T. Carpenter, 2021) Transliteration: Keitei ai au tokoro tomo ni kore hakubi taru shibaraku taihei no yo o yorokobi nichinichi youte chi no gotoshi
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 75.128.1
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Cylindrical white porcelain vase with slightly outward-sloping sides and gently rounded shoulders flowing into a short neck ending in a plain, flat edge. Recessed bottom with central perforation for a lamp cord (not drilled later but cut in the clay before firing and then glazed). The decoration consists of six vertical lines of bold ideographs painted in underglaze cobalt blue. There is a square seal containing the three characters "ro", "san", "jin" also painted in underglaze blue. In wood storage box. Condition: Small firing crack by perforation in base. Calligraphy is in the "artless" writing style of Ryokan (1758-1831), a Zen monk whom Rosanjin admired. The text is by Ryokan as well, from a poem written about the monk's younger brother, Yoshiyuki, called "The Great Pleasure of Drinking Sake with Yoshiyuki."
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Kitaoji Rosanjin (Japanese, 1883–1959). Vase, ca. 1945. Porcelain, 10 5/8 x 5 3/8 in. (27 x 13.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, 75.128.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 75.128.1_view01_PS11.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 75.128.1_view01_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2021
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Kitaoji Rosanjin (Japanese, 1883–1959). <em>Vase</em>, ca. 1945. Porcelain, 10 5/8 x 5 3/8 in. (27 x 13.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, 75.128.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 75.128.1_view01_PS11.jpg)