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火焔土器
Title:“Flame-Rimmed” Cooking Vessel (Kaen doki)
Period:Jomon period (ca. 10,500 BCE–ca. 300 BCE)
Culture:Japan
Medium:Earthenware
Dimensions:H. 20 7/8 in. (53.1 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.258
Like many Jōmon vessels of the same general shape, this pot is composed of two distinct parts: a tall, flat-based body that widens slightly toward the top and a flaring mouth that consists of four groups of abstract sculptural shapes. Made of coiled clay that encircles the top of the vessel, the flamboyant, forward-projecting decorations are pierced by large and small openings. Rims sculptured in this way are known as the fire-flame type, or Ka' en-shiki, as they resemble leaping flames (ka 'en); they are the distinguishing feature of Jōmon vessels. Their meaning, origin, and function are not known, but they are vivid reminders of the malleability of the material from which the vessels were constructed.
Although most Jōmon wares are plain pots made for cooking, lavishly decorated pieces such as this one were probably used for preparing food at special religious ceremonies, their sculpted rims and large size making them unfit for everyday use. The soot that blackened the upper half of the body suggests that this vessel was placed over a vigorous fire that later died down. [1] Such pieces are far rarer than those that are smooth and plain-rimmed, and they are in a better state of preservation when excavated.
Jōmon vessels have been found at sites throughout the Japanese archipelago, but the most spectacular specimens are from sites concentrated in eastern Japan. It is generally agreed that Ka' en-shiki vessels were produced in the northeast, from the Japanese Alps to the area north of the Kanto Plain. The most dramatic examples come from the Shinano River basin in Niigata Prefecture, near the Sea of Japan. The bowl in the Burke Collection resembles pieces excavated in the areas around Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo.
The tentative chronology of Jōmon pottery culture suggests that Ka' en-shiki vessels first appeared in the Kanto region at the beginning of the Early Phase and reached the height of their development in the Middle Phase, during which the Burke bowl may have been made. In the Late Phase such strong plastic designs began to lose their energy and were supplanted by the more functional vessels of the Yayoi culture.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Richard J. Pearson in Pearson et al. 1991, p. 26. It is also suggested that some Jōmon vessels were used for the burial of human remains, and the small holes at the bottom were made as passages through which the deceased 's soul could be released. See Harada Masayuki in Pearson et al. 1992, p. 103.
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 25, 1993–January 2, 1994.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," February 26, 1994–April 24, 1994.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 14, 1994–January 1, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," July 5, 2005–August 19, 2005.
Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 4, 2005–December 11, 2005.
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," January 24, 2006–March 5, 2006.
Miho Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 15, 2006–June 11, 2006.
Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄, Mary Griggs Burke, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, and Gifu-ken Bijutsukan 岐阜県美術館. Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki ニューヨーク・バーク・コレクション展 : 日本の美三千年の輝き(Enduring legacy of Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke collection). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005, p. 58, cat. no. 1.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia W. Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Ake Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 2, Japanese Objects, Korean Art, Chinese Art. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 24, cat. no. 574.
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