Figure of Kannon holding a fish in a basket

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: hard, fine. white: porcelain.

  Glaze: flesh--pinkish buff; figure-cream, pale green, and brown.

  Decoration: in colored enamels and gold, over glaze.

• Marks

  Mark: Kikuyama; incised on base.

• Provenance

  To 1897

  Charles A. Dana (1819-1897), New York, NY, to 1897 [1]

  From 1898 to 1903

  Cottier and Co., New York, NY, purchased at auction, the Dana Collection Sale, American Art Galleries, New York, NY, February 24-26, 1898, no. 331 [2]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Cottier and Co. in 1903 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record and Curatorial Remark 7, Louise Cort, June 16, 2008, in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] Purchased from Cottier and Co. in December 1903. See Original Pottery List, L. 1274, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Curatorial Remark 1 and Curatorial Remark 7, Louise Cort, June 16, 2008, in the object record.

  [4] 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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles A. Dana (1819-1897)

  Cottier and Co. (established 1869) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Sculpture

• 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.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s, 1860s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Cottier, Daniel, Dana, Charles A.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Porcelain, Art, Kannon, Fishes, Japanese Art, Ceramics, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Bodhisattva

• Culture

  Buddhists, Japanese

• Object Type

  Sculpture