Incense container in shape of Chinese lion-dog

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Ohi Chozaemon 大樋長左衛門 (1630-1712)

• Description

  Incense box; in form of recumbent lion.

  Clay: dense, red-buff.

  Glaze: yellow and dark orange; brownish incrustations on head. Amber-colored lead glaze.

• Label

  Freer's collection included many examples of Raku ware, which developed in association with the tea ceremony. The Ohi pottery in Kanazawa was an offshoot of the original Raku workshop in Kyoto. Ohi potters developed the amber glaze used on this incense-pellet container to distinguish their products from Kyoto Raku ware.

• Provenance

  To 1902

  Samuel Colman (1832-1920), New York, NY, and Newport, RI, to 1902 [1]

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased at the sale of the Samuel Colman Collection, American Art Association, New York, March 19-22, 1902 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1127, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Samuel Colman was collecting Asian objects by at least 1880 (see Curatorial Remark 9, Louise Cort, April 20, 2007, in the object record).

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Samuel Colman (1832-1920)

  American Art Association (established 1883) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Container

• 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

  American Art Association, Freer, Charles Lang, Colman, Samuel

• Place

  Kanazawa, Japan, Ishikawa prefecture

• Topic

  Ohi ware, Charles Lang Freer collection, Cats, Art, Animals, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Japanese Art, Guardian lion, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers