Tea bowl with designs of pine boughs and interlocking circles, unknown Raku ware workshop

Object Details

• Description

  Tea bowl, broad bulging; low foot.

  Clay: soft, dense, grayish.

  Glaze: brilliant black with bluish iridescence.

  Decoration: incised in glaze.

• Label

  The subtle design on this bowl was incised through the unfired glaze, rather than painted. The painting mode of Ogata Korin (1658–1716) inspired the simplified rendering of the rounded clusters of pine needles.

• Provenance

  To 1898

  Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1898 [1]

  From 1898 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1898 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 434, 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

  Tea Bowls in Bloom: Botanical Decoration on Tea Ceremony Ceramics (February 3 to July 15, 2007)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (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

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1900s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Matsuki, Bunkio

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Pine tree, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Pottery, Iridescence, Ceramics, Raku ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)