Small tea jar for commercial use

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: light, hard, white. Lip chipped.

  Glaze: clear, colorless glaze appearing golden brown, iridescent, broken through by thick studding of globules of feldspar from clay body. Interior unglazed.

• Label

  This compact jar probably held whole-leaf green tea offered for sale in a shop in the tea-growing town of Uji.

• Provenance

  To 1903

  Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), Paris, to 1903 [2]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Siegfried Bing, Paris, in 1903 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1244, 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

  Tea for...Everyone: Popular Ceramics for Drinking Tea in Japan (March 8 to October 19, 2008)

  Japanese Art of the Meiji Era (September 20, 1997 to April 26, 1998)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Shigaraki, Shiga prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• 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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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s, 1860s

• Name

  Bing, Siegfried, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Shiga prefecture, Japan, Shigaraki

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Stoneware, Shigaraki ware, Japanese Art, Iridescence, Ceramics, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)