Tall Vase

Kataro Shirayamadai came to the United States as part of a traveling vignette of a Japanese village, and was invited by Rookwood Pottery to join their decorating staff in 1887. Painted by Shirayamadani in 1908, this tall vase represents an interesting “domestification” of Asian influence in later Rookwood Pottery. Though painted by a Japanese artisan working at the Cincinnati pottery works, the scene itself evokes the pristine lakes and indigenous geese of the American Midwest rather than views of local river plants and birds often found in Japanese paintings and prints that had originally inspired the design on Rookwood pottery.