Ladle stand in style of Chinese bronze

Object Details

• Artist

  Eiraku Hozen 永楽保全 (1795-1854)

• Description

  Ladle stand, hexagonal, with flattened-ovoidal lower body.

  Clay: earthenware, burnished.

  Decoration: molded in slight relief. Six horizontal incisions filled with gold leaf.

  Seal on the base.

• Marks

  Seal: Zengoro.

• Label

  In formal tea gatherings, a ladle stand holds the bamboo water ladle and the iron tongs used for arranging charcoal in the hearth or brazier. In 1839, Eiraku Hozen made thirty earthenware replicas of a Chinese bronze ladle stand once owned by the tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), to be distributed as gifts commemorating the seventieth birthday of Hozen's father. This may be a test piece for that project, in which burnished and smoke-blackened earthenware simulated the patina of bronze.

• Provenance

  To 1901

  Japanese Trading Company, New York to 1901 [1]

  From 1901 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Japanese Trading Company in 1901 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 976, 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

  Freer: A Taste for Japanese Art (July 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007)

  Freer and Tea II: Raku, Hagi, Karatsu (July 8, 2006 to January 1, 2007)

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to November 21, 1995)

  Kyoto Ceramics (November 9, 1984 to April 25, 1985)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Japanese Trading Company (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Furniture and Furnishing

• Restrictions and Rights

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• Date

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• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Japanese Trading Company

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Kyoto ware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Pottery, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Furniture, Furnishings