Tea caddy

Object Details

• Description

  Tea caddy (chaire [JPN])

  Tall, slender. Ivory cover. String-cut base.

  Clay: dense, fine-grained, fired reddish-brown.

  Glaze: iron glaze over opaque white glaze. Interior unglazed.

  Weight measured by Matsumura Makiko: 239.87 grams.

• Label

  This container for powdered tea, used in the tea ceremony, bears a mottled glaze created by applying an iron glaze over a rice-straw ash glaze. This speckled glaze is characteristic of tea caddies made at kilns in Satsuma province (modern Kagoshima prefecture) by Korean potters who were resettled there at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The elongated vessel shape is also seen in Oribe ware tea caddies made at the Mino kilns in the first several decades of the seventeenth century. Styles in tea-ceremony utensils produced at regional kilns were synchronized by merchants from Kyoto and other urban centers where the tea ceremony was popular.

• Provenance

  To 1901

  R. Wagner, Berlin, to 1901 [1]

  From 1901 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from R. Wagner in 1901 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 889, 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)

  Japanese Ceramics (June 22, 1982 to September 27, 1982)

  Japanese Ceramics/Puppets (June 16, 1980 to July 14, 1980)

  Japanese Ceramics (July 15, 1980 to June 21, 1982)

  Japanese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to January 17, 1980)

  Japanese Art (July 1, 1974 to April 10, 1978)

  Japanese Art (January 1, 1963 to July 1, 1966)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

• Previous custodian or owner

  R. Wagner (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Tateno kiln group, Uto or Osato kiln, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan

• 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

  1610s, 1600s

• Name

  Wagner, R., Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Uto, Osato kiln, Tateno kiln group, Japan, Kagoshima prefecture

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Satsuma ware, Old Chosa type, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Ivory, Stoneware, Japanese Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)