Bowl, used in Japan as tea bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Tableware bowl, used in Japan as tea bowl; flaring sides, low roughly-trimmed foot. Two gold lacquer restorations; one is extensive and is elaborately decorated gold hira-makie of floral pattern.

  Clay: gray, porcelanous, hardness 9.

  Glaze: clear, feldspathic, stained in some areas, including scars. On inside there is also possible tea-stain. Only patches of glaze remain on foot-rim and base; bare areas have brown surface.

  Decoration: inlaid white slip under the glaze. Main band, inside and out, between borders is small repeat pattern; inside it is probably circles. Stylized flower head in center bottom. Three rectangular reserves in pattern on outside near top border contain characters. They are so spaced that it may be assumed that there were originally five. This is characteristic of this type of Reihin mishima.

  Spurs: unglazed footrim.

• Inscriptions

  See curatorial remark #8.

• Label

  Three Chinese characters stamped below the rim of this bowl name a Korean government office for which the work was made. Despite their intended use for serving rice or soup, some bowls of this type were exported to Japan, where they became teabowls. Tea tannin has stained the soft glaze deeply, creating a patina cherished by tea practitioners. The costly lacquer repair with relief design of autumn grasses echoes the stamped motif of wild aster flowers.

• Provenance

  To 1904

  Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, to 1904 [1]

  From 1904 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY,

  in 1904 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] Undated folder sheet note.

  Also see Original Pottery List, L. 1292, 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

  A Journey of Taste: Freer and Japanese Scroll Mounting (April 15, 2023 to March 3, 2024)

  Golden Seams: The Japanese Art of Mending Ceramics (November 8, 2008 to May 10, 2009)

  The Tea Ceremony as Melting Pot (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

  Korean Influences on Japanese Slip-Decorated Ceramics (February 16, 1984 to November 9, 1984)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Gyeongsang-do province, Korea

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Gyeongsang-do province, Korea

• Topic

  Art, Inlay (process), Buncheong ware, Lacquer repair, Stoneware, Korean Art, Ceramics, Flowers, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Joseon period (1392 - 1910), Green glaze, Lacquer

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)