Tea bowl with design of a garden, Arita ware

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: grayish stoneware fired red.

  Glaze: tan with dark grayish areas, crackled.

  Decoration: flower sprays, rock and butterflies in underglaze blue.

• Label

  The Arita kilns are best known for producing white-bodied porcelain decorated with cobalt in the Chinese style. This unusual tea bowl combines cobalt designs with a dark stoneware body. Applying white clay solution over the dark body produced a muted “antique” appearance further emphasized by the crackle in the glaze. This type of ware appears to have been produced at Arita kilns during a brief period and for an audience of tea ceramic connoisseurs.

• Provenance

  Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900), Kyoto [1]

  To 1900

  Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1900 [2]

  From 1900 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1900 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See Original Pottery List, L. 806, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] 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

  Tea Bowls in Bloom: Botanical Decoration on Tea Ceremony Ceramics (February 3 to July 15, 2007)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900)

  Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Arita, Saga prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  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, Matsuki, Bunkio, Ikeda, Seisuke

• Place

  Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita

• Topic

  Art, Stoneware, Ceramics, Flowers, Gardens, Butterflies, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Animals, Insects, Arita ware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)