Incense box in the shape of a turtle

Object Details

• Description

  Buff clay, flushing orange where glaze is thick or wiped off. Incised and modeled details. Yellow ash glaze, crackled.

  Mark. Cipher (kao) written in clear brown lacquer on underside of lid.

• Inscriptions

  Inside the lid is a cipher written in clear amber lacquer. The cipher has not been identified.

• 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. 1154, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Samuel Colman was collecting Asian objects by at least 1880 (see Curatorial Remark 10, 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: A Taste for Japanese Art (July 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007)

  Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons in Japanese Art (September 14, 1977 to April 8, 1978)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Samuel Colman (1832-1920)

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Owari Tokugawa garden kiln, Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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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, 1840s, 1690s, 1680s, 1850s, 1860s, 1670s, 1660s

• Name

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

• Place

  Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, Owari Tokugawa garden kiln

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Ofuke ware, Stoneware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Japanese Art, Turtles, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers