Arita ware tea bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Tea bowl with ovoidal base and cylindrical upper part; high foot outside, shallowly scooped out underneath.

  Clay: coarse stoneware fired reddish-brown.

  Glaze: greenish gray, crackled, stained.

  Decoration: floral patterns in underglaze blue outside.

• Label

  This bowl is a rare type of stoneware tea ceramic made at the Arita kilns, better known for porcelain tableware. The bowl approximates porcelain whiteness using Korean-style brushed white clay solution (slip) and uses Chinese-style cobalt-blue decoration. The thin form also shows the impact of the porcelain aesthetic. Although Freer did not care for porcelain, he was attracted to the subtle coloration of this bowl, which he praised as "fine."

• Provenance

  To 1901

  Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1901 [1]

  From 1901 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1901 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

  Notes:

  [1]

  See Pottery List, L. 1063, 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

  Cornucopia: Ceramics of Southern Japan (December 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011)

  Freer and Tea: 100 Years of The Book of Tea (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  possibly Chokichidani kiln, 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

• Place

  Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita, Chokichidani kiln

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)