Bottle

Object Details

• Description

  Bottle, small pear-shaped, with trumpet lip; deep foot. Gold lacquer repairs.

  Clay: hard, dense.

  Glaze: lustrous grayish-green celadon crackled in brown; brown stains.

  Decoration: incised and inlaid with white slip, under glaze.

• Label

  A stamp roughly carved with a row of small triangles was impressed repeatedly on the wall of this bottle to produce a pattern. Long use for serving rice wine has given the bottle an oily luster and variegated staining. Charles Freer acquired this bottle in Japan. A Japanese owner had replaced the damaged foot and lip with gold lacquer mends that add elegance to the modest vessel.

• Provenance

  Matsuoka Collection, Kanazawa, Japan [1]

  To 1904

  Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, to 1904 [2]

  From 1904 to 1919

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

  [2] Undated folder sheet note. Also see Original Pottery List, L. 1334, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [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

  Korean Ceramics (February 4, 1997 to August 7, 2011)

  Korean Ceramics of the Koryo Dynasty (May 9, 1993 to August 7, 2011)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Matsuoka collection, Kanazawa

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

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Gyeongsang-do or Jeolla-do province, Korea

• 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.

  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

  1400s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co., Matsuoka collection

• Place

  Jeolla-do province, Gyeongsang-do, Korea

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)