Jar with four lugs

Object Details

• Description

  Tea-leaf storage jar. Large, ovoidal, with four loop handles. Lip chipped. Paulownia wood lid wrapped in Japanese document paper, used. Mouth cover of Japanese-made dark-blue silk with gold weft figures. Lavender and white braided silk cord. Wood stand.

  Clay: hard, dense, gray.

  Glaze: brilliant, dark, brownish-red, with splash of leaf green on shoulder.

• Label

  An ink inscription in Japanese on the base of this jar gives its purchase price of more than fourteen pounds of silver. Beginning in the ninth century, China sent large numbers of storage jars to destinations along trading routes to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The jars were made at kilns in the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, or Guangdong, close to major port cities. Presumably most jars served as containers for commercial goods. Even after the Chinese jars were empty, they were highly valued. The uses to which they were put depended on the culture that received them. This jar reached Japan, where Chinese jars stored tea leaves used in the Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu.

• Provenance

  To 1899

  Yamanaka & Company, New York 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. 20, 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

  Storage Jars (March 15, 2014 to June 28, 2015)

  Storage Jars of Asia (October 29, 2000 to March 10, 2002)

  Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)

  Luminous Shadows (April 1, 1982 to June 21, 1982)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1946 (May 3, 1946 to October 6, 1947)

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Shiwan (Shekwan) kilns, Foshan, Guangdong province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1400s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  China, Guangdong province, Shiwan, Foshan

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Shiwan ware, Ceramics, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)