Tea bowl, copy of "Kaga Koetsu," unknown Raku ware workshop

Object Details

• Artist

  Style of Hon'ami Koetsu 本阿弥光悦 (1558-1637)

• Description

  Tea bowl. Gold lacquer repairs.

  Clay: Raku type, light brown clay.

  Glaze: brilliant orange-red slip, brushed into areas of white slip, clear glaze with overflow of gray-white, crackled.

• Label

  This bowl is heavy for its size and hesitantly carved. These features suggest that it was made by an inexperienced potter. A thick curtain of whitish glaze masks the red slip. The exaggerated undulations of the rim are a later convention not found in Koetsu's own bowls.

• Provenance

  To 1897

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1897 [1]

  From 1897 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1897 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 483, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1860s, 1670s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Lacquer repair, Copy, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Lacquer, Ceramics, Raku ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)