Jar with four lugs

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: dense, hard, grayish.

  Glaze: warm, dark yellow; with thin brown overflow; minutely crackled. Incised mark.

• Label

  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 1900

  Rufus E. Moore, 1900 [1]

  From 1900 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Rufus E. Moore in 1900 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, 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)

  The Tea Ceremony as Melting Pot (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

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

  Untitled Exhibition of Ceramics (March 31, 1994 to March 6, 1995)

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

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

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Hanging Scrolls, Ceramics, and Sculpture (October 2, 1947 to January 23, 1951)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Ceramics and Painting (May 2, 1946 to October 2, 1947)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Rufus E. Moore (1840-1918) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  probably 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

  1590s, 1400s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Moore, Rufus E.

• Place

  China, Guangdong province

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)