Kyoto ware jar with design of phoenixes and paulownia crests

Object Details

• Description

  Jar. Gold lacquer repairs. Black lacquer cover.

  Clay: hard, sonorous, beige. Stained where exposed at base.

  Glaze: translucent fish-roe crackle.

  Decoration: in green, blue and red enamels, and gold, over glaze. Gold lost in areas. Pair of phoenixes, five paulownia crests, kashiwa leaves and grasses, and vinescroll motif.

  Seal and inscription.

• Marks

  Seal: kiyo [JPN].

  Seal: kiyo [JPN].

• Inscriptions

  The inscription on the base, written in ink, shows the jar's original use:

  tsubu to [JPN] jar capacity (literally to, equal to 4.8 gallons)

  tsuke me [JPN] quantity of me (=.1325 oz.)

  ni hyaku nanaju ho [JPN] 275 [me] (=36.4 oz or 2.2 lbs.)

  (The three-character inscription in the center of the base probably gives the owner's name)

  The inscription indicates that the jar was found to hold 275 me of tea leaves. (Compare a similar inscription on a Chinese tea jar, F1899.47.) The tea involved could well have been sencha, the Ming Chinese style of processed tea that became popular in the 18th century in Japan

• Label

  The term "Old Kiyomizu ware" is sometimes given only to pottery decorated in the distinctive color scheme of green, blue, and gold enamels, sometimes to all Kyoto pottery that predates the beginning of porcelain production in the late 18th century. The decoration on this jar also incorporates red enamel. The jar may once have had a double lid of the sort used to give a tight seal for tea-leaf storage. Later it was fitted with a lacquered wooden lid for use as a freshwater jar in the tea ceremony. An inscription on the base records the jar's price.

• Provenance

  To 1899

  Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, 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. 87, 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

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

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

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

  Japanese and Korean Pottery, and Korean Bronze (May 2, 1923 to March 22, 1943)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (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)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

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

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Art, Lacquer repair, Stoneware, Birds, Ceramics, Plants, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Animals, Old Kiyomizu ware, Kyoto ware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Lacquer, Phoenix

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)