Producer unknown to us
Smoking container with lid
Asia, Japan
Prior to 1882
Bronze, cast
Heinrich Botho Scheube (doctor, lecturer)
Purchased by the museum from Scheube in 1909
OAs 04622 a, b
This Japanese incense burning vessel was manufactured in the "Chinese style". Three boys with Chinese hairstyles and garbs, called Karako, in different poses, carry an almost spherical vessel while a fourth boy sits on its lid. On the vessel’s body is a relief of two dragons moving between clouds. Its handle is in the shape of two other fantastic creatures, most likely "baku".
The collector of this object, Botho Scheube, worked as a physician and lecturer at the Kyoto Medical School from 1877 to 1881. During this time, he amassed a collection of nearly 700 pieces of Japanese art and items pertaining to the Ainu culture. The collection had been stored at the Leipzig ethnological museum from 1891. In 1909, thanks to financial support from the city and donations from wealthy citizens of Leipzig, it became the property of the museum.
Dietmar Grundmann