Side-handled teapot with design of autumn grasses

Object Details

• Artist

  Miura Ken'ya (1821-1889)

• Description

  Clay: hard, whitish; Raku-type earthenware.

  Glaze: brilliant seal-brown and cream; the latter crackled and slightly iridescent. Lead glazes.

  Decoration: in brown under glaze: bush clover and pampas grass.

  Signature: Kenya

  One of a set: F1904.429.1-8.

• Signatures

  Kenya

• Label

  The painted decoration of bush clover and pampas grass, both of which are included among a poetic "seven grasses of autumn," provides seasonal nuance. It could be argued that the curving contour of the reserved white surface suggests the full moon, in which case the theme would be Musashino, a plain in the western Kanto region. This was a reedy hinterland in the poetic imagination, but irreverent critics maintain that it was reallly a mixed hardwood forest managed by locals as a charcoal supply.

• Provenance

  To 1904

  Kosa Honma (1842-1909), to 1904 [1]

  From 1904 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by Kosa Honma in 1904 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 131, 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

  Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  The Potter's Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics (December 9, 2001 to October 27, 2002)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Honma Kosa (1842-1909) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Tokyo, Japan

• 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

  1890s, 1870s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Honma, Kosa

• Place

  Tokyo, Japan

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Autumn, Japanese Art, Iridescence, Ceramics, Grasses, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)