This vase depicts the celebrated shrine of Itsukushima on the island of Miyajima, one of Japan’s three classic scenic views, in fine overglaze painting. As so often with Meizan, the decoration does not stop at the outer surface. The interior is densely filled with flowers, a hidden richness revealed only to the viewer who looks inside. The vase stands 16.5 centimetres high, with a mouth diameter of 11.6 centimetres and a base of 5.0 centimetres.
It was shown in the Osaka Museum of History’s 2005 exhibition ‘Meizan Satsuma no bi’ (The Beauty of Meizan Satsuma). That exhibition brought together around seventy works with the artist’s portrait photograph and business card, and confirmed his participation in the Paris Exposition of 1889. The museum reported that a large crack in the body had been repaired during conservation before the exhibition. The vase is therefore a document of the studio’s topographical painting as well as of the care now taken over Meizan’s surviving work.