Vase of Flowers with Grasshopper, Marine Life, and Garden Rock
A great interest in Western scientific studies developed in Japan during the late Edo period (1615-1868) and into the Meiji era (1868-1912). One outcome of this phenomenon in the visual arts was the detailed portrayal of plant, animal, and marine life. This painting is an assemblage of objects carefully observed from nature, but not usually seen together.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- Okabe Ko (Japanese)
- Date
- late 1800s
- Dimensions
- overall: height 1.702 m, width 0.877 m; painting only: height 1.264 m, width 0.56 m
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- John L. Severance Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Flora Both · 99%
The scroll prominently depicts flowering branches, peonies, chrysanthemums, leaves, grasses, berries, and other botanical forms.
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Animals Both · 97%
A grasshopper, several crabs, fish, and other small creatures are visible; the title explicitly identifies a grasshopper and marine life.
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Natural History Metadata · 95%
The museum explicitly describes the work as a detailed portrayal of plant, animal, and marine life associated with interest in Western scientific studies during the late Edo and Meiji periods.
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Still Life Both · 92%
The image arranges a decorated vase, flowers, branches, garden rock, insects, and aquatic creatures as a concentrated display of objects; the museum describes it as an assemblage of objects observed from nature.
Visual Qualities
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Dense Composition Visual · 87%
The middle and lower sections contain tightly layered flowers, leaves, branches, vessels, rock forms, and small animals, producing a richly populated composition despite the open surrounding ground.
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Contour Line Visual · 93%
Fine dark outlines clearly describe stems, petals, leaves, insects, crabs, vessels, and the garden rock.
Medium and Techniques
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Hanging Scroll Both · 99%
The museum identifies the work as a hanging scroll, and the image shows a tall vertical painting with textile mounting and borders.
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the object as a painting and records its medium as ink and color on silk.
Time Periods
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19th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The museum dates the work to 1880–1899 and displays its date as the late 1800s.
Geographic Regions
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Japanese Art Metadata · 99%
The work is identified as originating in Japan during the Meiji period, and the museum classifies it within Japanese Art.
Cultural and Religious Styles
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Meiji Art Metadata · 99%
The stated place of origin and period are Japan and the Meiji period (1868–1912), with a date of 1880–1899.
Tableware, Vessels, and Objects
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Vessel Both · 99%
A large decorated vessel is a central element of the composition, and the title identifies it as a vase.
Source & rights
Okabe Ko (Japanese). Vase of Flowers with Grasshopper, Marine Life, and Garden Rock. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 7,147 × 15,767 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available