Jar with design of fence and grasses, Karatsu ware, E-Karatsu type

Object Details

• Description

  Jar, ovoid with slight lip; thick, uneven flat foot; gold lacquer repairs.

  Clay: coarse stoneware, fired dark reddish brown.

  Glaze: medium gray with fine crackle; very patchy outside, some on foot; smooth and uniform inside.

  Decoration: grass tufts sketchily painted underglaze in iron.

• Label

  This jar represents the earliest type of iron-decorated stoneware made at the Karatsu kilns. Immigrant Korean potters, who set up these kilns, introduced both vessel forms and simple decoration associated with utilitarian wares made at provincial Korean kilns. Small storage vessels like this one, supplied with lacquered lids, were used as tea utensils.

• Provenance

  To 1898

  Rufus E. Moore, New York to 1898 [1]

  From 1898 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Rufus E. Moore in 1898 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 196, 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

  Cornucopia: Ceramics of Southern Japan (December 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Rufus E. Moore (1840-1918) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Saga prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1610s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Moore, Rufus E.

• Place

  Japan, Saga prefecture

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Lacquer repair, Karatsu ware, E-karatsu type, Stoneware, Japanese Art, Lacquer, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)