Ornamental Screen with Images of Kanzan and Jittoku

This complex, sculptural ceramic is an example of Satsuma ware. It is a remarkable combination of colorful overglaze enamel patterns, gilding, and sculpture. The two figures in the center provide an interesting visual contrast to the colorful frame around them. Their faces are unglazed, revealing the reddish earthenware of the clay body, and their robes are covered with a transparent glaze. Although in the form of a decorative table screen, it is actually a vase and may have been used to display a branch of cherry blossoms—note the gilded cherry blossom design in the blue border.

The central figures are a pair of famous Zen Buddhist hermits, semi-legendary figures from 8th to 9th century China. Standing and holding a scroll is Kanzan 寒山 (Hánshān in Chinese), or “Cold Mountain.” Hundreds of evocative and mystical poems are attributed to him. He lived at the Guóqīng Monastery 国清寺 on Mt. Tiāntāi in southern China. Seated and holding a broom is Jittoku 拾得 (Shídé), or “The Foundling,” also a poet, he worked in the kitchen at the monastery. Both wandered in the mountain forests, writing poems on rocks and trees.