Jar

Object Details

• Description

  The heavily potted jar with widely spaced vertical grooving on the walls. A grayish-green glaze covers the exterior and the interior as well as the base of the jar.

  Clay: fairly hard, gray stoneware.

  Glaze: grayish yellow-green; crackled.

• Label

  The fluted shape and green glaze of this jar are based on Chinese lidded jars from Longquan. Although celadon-like vessels had been produced in Iran since the fourteenth century, a revival took place in the seventeenth century. These Persian green-glazed wares, avidly sought in Iran and exported to Turkey, probably served as less expensive alternatives to Chinese celadons. In 1611 the Persian ruler Shah Abbas (r. 1587-1629) donated his outstanding collection of Chinese porcelains as an endowment to his ancestral shrine in the northwestern city of Ardabil.

  Dishes and bowls bearing the same designs as these pieces, made in Jingdezhen in the first decades of the fifteenth century, are included in the collection of the Topkapi palace in Istanbul, where they were used as tableware. Compared to fourteenth century porcelains, these pieces are thinner, and their cobalt decorations feature single large motifs painted with finer lines, which allow more of the white porcelain ground to show. Such decoration reflects the emergence of Chinese taste, as the result of the growing influence in Jingdezhen of patronage from the imperial court. Nonetheless, Jingdezhen porcelain continued to be in demand in West Asian markets.

• Provenance

  To 1903

  Unidentified private dealer, Paris, to 1903 [1]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from an unidentified private dealer in Paris, through Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Paris, in 1903 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Voucher No. 1, November 1903, and Original Pottery List, L. 1231, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Curatorial Remark 1 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

  Crosscurrents in Chinese and Islamic Ceramics (March 1, 1996 to July 1, 1997)

  Riza-i Abbasi Album (May 10, 1985 to September 3, 1985)

  Ceramics from the World of Islam (January 16, 1974 to July 1, 1974)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dikran Garabed Kelekian (1868-1951) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1500s, 1610s, 1600s, 1590s, 1540s, 1650s, 1530s, 1640s, 1520s, 1630s, 1510s, 1620s, 1580s, 1730s, 1690s, 1570s, 1680s, 1560s, 1670s, 1550s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Kelekian, Dikran Garabed

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Pottery, Arts of the Islamic World, Ceramics

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)