Incense box with design of cranes, unknown Raku ware workshop

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: dense, light gray, Raku type.

  Glaze: orange-pink and pale neutral yellow, crackled. Red Raku glaze.

  Decoration: two cranes, in low relief on cover.

• Provenance

  To 1903

  Hirase Roko (1829-1908), Osaka, Japan, to 1903 [1]

  From 1903 to 1904

  Yamanaka & Company, acquired from Hirase Roko in 1903 [2]

  From 1904 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1904 [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, as well as Curatorial Remark 6, Louise Cort, 1987, Curatorial Remark 9, Louise Cort, September 18, 2009, and Curatorial Remark 12, Louise Cort, March 31, 2011, in the object record.

  [2] The Hirase collection was sold at auctions in 1903 and 1906. The 1903 sale, held on April 8, was managed in part by Yamanaka Kichirobei, and this fact presumably accounts for the fact that Freer acquired three former Hirase pieces from Yamanaka & Company (see F1904.317, F1904.319a-b, and F1904.326). These ceramic pieces had been offered in the New York sale, but were sold to Charles Lang Freer at a later date by Yamanaka (according to Curatorial Remark 6, Louise A. Cort, 1987, and Curatorial Remark 12, Louise Cort, March 31, 2011, in the object record).

  [3] See note 2. See also, Original Pottery List, L. 1319, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [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

• Exhibition History

  Tea Ceramics after Koetsu (June 27, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art (June 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Hirase Roko (1829-1908)

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kyoto or Tokyo, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1900s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Hirase, Roko, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Kyoto, Tokyo, Japan

• Topic

  Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Japanese Art, Pottery, Crane, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Raku ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers