Korakuen ware tea bowl with design of Mt. Fuji

Object Details

• Artist

  Probably by Raku Tannyu (1795-1854)

• Description

  Tea bowl, cylindrical; small, retired foot.

  Clay: soft, Raku

  Glaze: rich, black, iridesctent; orangepeel surface. Three spur-marks on footrim.

  Decoration: in grayish-cream glaze, crackled. Mt. Fuji amidst clouds.

  Seal: Korakuen sei [Jpn], inside circularr frame. Impressed on base outside footrim.

• Marks

  Korakuen sei [Jpn], inside circularr frame. Impressed on base outside footrim

• Label

  Korakuen garden in Edo (Tokyo), built by the Mito Tokugawa house, still survives in much-reduced form. The pottery was staffed by several generations of the Raku workshop. This bowl is probably the work of Raku Tannyu; other bowls with design of Mt. Fuji made by Tannyu at Korakuen also survive.

• Provenance

  To 1898

  A.D. Vorce and Co., Hartford, CT, to 1898 [1]

  From 1898 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from A.D. Vorce and Co. in 1898 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 33, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [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

• Exhibition History

  Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  Real and Imagined Places in Japanese Art (March 4 to October 21, 2001)

  Garden Potteries and Official Kilns: Clan-Sponsored Ceramics in the Edo Period (January 16, 1986 to November 3, 1986)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1955 (October 25, 1955 to November 22, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1951 (January 23, 1951 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Hanging Scrolls, Ceramics, and Sculpture (October 2, 1947 to January 23, 1951)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Ceramics and Painting (May 2, 1946 to October 2, 1947)

• Previous custodian or owner

  A. D. Vorce and Co. (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Tokyo, 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, 1850s, 1680s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, A. D. Vorce and Co.

• Place

  Tokyo, Japan

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Mount Fuji, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Pottery, Korakuen ware, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)