Black Raku ware tea bowl named Minogame (Mossy-tailed tortoise)

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Hon'ami Koetsu 本阿弥光悦 (1558-1637)

• Description

  Tea-bowl of cylindrical shape, flat cut rim, named Mino-game (long-tailed tortoise).

  Clay: coarse dark brown stoneware

  Glaze: dark olive green to brown, uneven mat surface

• Label

  Hon'ami Koetsu was a sword polisher and appaiser by profession, but he gained fame as a calligrapher and also as a maker of tea bowls that were much admired and replicated. Surviving letters show that Koetsu collaborated for making tea bowls with the Raku workshop of professional potters in Kyoto: using clay supplied by the workshop, Koetsu sculpted bowl forms by hand and returned them to the workshop for glazing and firing.

  The black glaze on this cylindrical bowl with blunt-cut rim was scraped away to create a feeling of dignified age and wear. The slightly underfired glaze has a green tinge and matte surface. In shape and glazing, this bowl closely resembles several other Black Raku tea bowls thought to have been made by Koetsu. If not from Koetsu's own hand, this bowl is probably a faithful copy by a professional potter. The bowl's name Minogame (Mossy-Tailed Tortoise) is recorded on the bowl's storage box, which was inscribed by Rokurokusai (1837-1910), eleventh head of the Omote Senke school of tea.

• Provenance

  To 1899

  Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1899 [1]

  From 1899 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1899 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 423, 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

  Imperfectly Beautiful: Inventing Japanese Ceramic Style (October 14, 2017 - October 14, 2019)

  The Power to See Beauty (October 14, 2017 to September 6, 2022)

  Tea Ceramics after Koetsu (June 27, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art (June 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Freer and Tea: 100 Years of The Book of Tea (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  Japanese Art in the Age of Koetsu (June 6, 1998 to February 15, 1999)

  The Koetsu Tea Bowl (May 15, 1998 to June 23, 2005)

  Kyoto Ceramics (November 9, 1984 to April 25, 1985)

  Boxed In: Japanese Ceramics and Their Storage Boxes (September 23, 1982 to February 17, 1983)

  Japanese Ceramics/Puppets (June 16, 1980 to July 14, 1980)

  Japanese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to January 17, 1980)

  Japanese Art--Shinto (October 12, 1976 to December 10, 1976)

  Japanese Art (October 2, 1975 to October 8, 1976)

  Japanese Paintings Attributed to Iwasa Matabei (July 1, 1974 to October 1, 1975)

  Japanese Art: Paintings and Pottery (July 1, 1966 to May 2, 1973)

  Japanese Art (January 1, 1963 to July 1, 1966)

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

• 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

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

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• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Matsuki, Bunkio

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)