Tea caddy with two lugs, in Oribe style

Object Details

• Artist

  Mark of Soi (active early 17th century)

• Description

  Buff clay, darkened on surface by use. Concave base. Two lugs. White slip extending slightly below clear glaze. Under-glaze iron painted decoration over shoulder and much of body, showing brush strokes; on one side, flying geese and pattern resembling "tie-dyed" textile, painted in reserve; on opposite side, vertical faceting and incising. Potter's mark incised on base: ideogram for "well" (i). Inside unglazed.

• Marks

  Potter's mark incised on the base: ideogram for "well."

• Label

  Production of glazed stoneware ceramics within Kyoto is said to have begun in 1624, when a potter from Seto was brought to the city to set up a workshop. Early Kyoto ceramics imitated popular styles of tea utensils made in Seto and other regional kilns or imported from Korea. This tea caddy, decorated in the style of Oribe ware from Mino, bears on its base an incised mark of the Japanese character for "well." According to later texts, this mark was used by an early Kyoto potter named Soi. Because the printed information about such marks became the basis for nineteenth-century imitations, the date of this and other tea caddies bearing Soi's mark remains uncertain.

• Provenance

  To 1901

  Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), Paris to 1901 [1]

  From 1901 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Siegfried Bing, Paris in 1901

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 935, 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

  The Potter's Mark: Tea Ceramics and Their Makers (August 18, 2007 to February 24, 2008)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) (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

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  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

  Bing, Siegfried, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Fungi, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Goose, Stoneware, Kyoto ware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Ceramics, Seto ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• Tax Kingdom

  Fungi