Heisei Era jar
- Gallery: Room 93
- Maker: Sakaida Kakiemon XV
- Culture: Heisei Era
- Made in: Kakiemon Kiln
- Date: 2016
- Object type: jar, lid, storage box
- Materials: porcelain
- Museum number: 2016,3024.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a striking lidded jar created in 2016 by Sakaida Kakiemon XV, part of a renowned porcelain-making lineage based in Arita. The jar features an overglaze enamel design of intricate pine boughs, set against a smooth nigoshide porcelain body. You can see how the artist used slab construction to form the body and then finished it on the potter’s wheel, blending traditional and modern craftsmanship.
This piece is a tribute to the famous “Hampton Court vase,” a 17th-century style named after porcelain collected by Queen Mary II. Kakiemon XV has reimagined this classic form, enlarging it, softening its edges, and combining it with a fresh, expansive design. The result is a visually striking and contemporary homage to his family’s long tradition in Japanese ceramics.
See it in person
Heisei Era jar is on display in Room 93 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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