Incense box in the shape of a tanuki

Object Details

• Description

  Incense box in shape of seated tanuki with arms extended over paunch. Gold lacquer repairs.

  Clay: soft, reddish-brown. Raku type.

  Glaze: dark red-brown and black. Metallic iridescence. Raku-type lead glaze.

  Mark, incised on base.

• Marks

  1. Mark, incised on base. Further scrutiny of the mark suggests that the bottom-most character of the inscription is not the (hi) [Jap] of Ohi [Jap] but (tsukuru) [Jap], "made by," and that it is followed by an impressed oval seal. The uppermost character also seems to contain the radical 162, [Jap].

• 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. 278, 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

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1880s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Kanazawa, Japan, Ishikawa prefecture

• Topic

  Ohi ware, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Lacquer repair, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Japanese Art, Lacquer, Pottery, Iridescence, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers