Hand warmer with design of vines

Object Details

• Artist

  Nin'ami Dohachi 仁阿弥道八 (1783-1855)

• Description

  Hand-warmer (te-aburi) with perforated dome cover; three stump feet.

  Clay: soft, gray-white; Raku-type porous clay.

  Glaze: brilliant sealing-wax red over yellow. Inside of bowl, gilded; inside of cover, black and yellow.

  Decoration: dark-red, in low relief, executed in lacquer.

  Mark. Dohachi, incised on base.

• Label

  In the unheated brothel rooms, portable charcoal-burning braziers provided warmth for guests. This handwarmer, made of Red Raku pottery, bears a design of a vine with autumnal red leaves worked naturalistically in cinnabar lacquer. Kyoto potter Dohachi collaborated with a lacquerer's workshop to execute this elaborate design. In a touch of hidden luxury, the interior of the lid is coated with gold leaf.

• Provenance

  To 1899

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1899 [1]

  From 1899 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1899 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 15, 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

• Exhibition History

  Tea in the Floating World (December 8, 2002 to May 26, 2003)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Gojozaka, 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, 1840s, 1690s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Gojozaka, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Kyoto ware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Lacquer, Pottery, Ceramics, Red slip

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)