Tea caddy, bunrin type

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Raku Ichinyu (1640-1696)

• Description

  Tea caddy, bunrin shape (bunrin chaire [Jpn]). Ivory cover.

  Clay: light-weight, grayish-white. Raku type. Wheel thrown.

  Glaze: brilliant black and red over thin gray-brown wash; inlaid "drip" of greenish-yellow. Black Raku glaze.

• Label

  This round jar replicates a Chinese tea caddy form known as “apple.” When acquired, the unmarked jar was attributed to Ichinyu (1640–1696), fourth head of the Raku workshop. Alternatively, it may be a product of the mysterious Oshikoji workshop, also in Kyoto, which during the seventeenth century made lead-glazed earthenware using technology introduced from China. Few Oshikoji wares have been identified, although the name appears in reliable documents.

• Provenance

  To 1900

  Kano Oshima, to 1900 [1]

  From 1900 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Kano Oshima in 1900 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 835, 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

  Freer and Tea II: Raku, Hagi, Karatsu (July 8, 2006 to January 1, 2007)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kano Oshima (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

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

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• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Kano, Oshima

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)