Sake Flask
1500–1599
- Medium
- Black laquered wood with red lacquer
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 24 cm (9 7/16 in.); Overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.)
- Genre
- lacquer
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
About
This flask contained rice wine, or sake. Its wood body was shaped by a lathe before black lacquer was applied to the surface. A red lacquer design of grapevines, an auspicious motif, covers the surface. With their numerous, long-lasting fruits, grapevines traditionally symbolized fertility and longevity in East Asia.