Food dish with design of blossoming plum

Object Details

• Artist

  Miura Ken'ya (1821-1889)

• Description

  One of a set: F1904.429.1-8

  Clay: hard, whitish; Raku-type earthenware.

  Glaze: brilliant iridescent cream-white and seal-brown lead glazes.

  Decoration: in brown and blue pigments, under glaze.

  Signature: Ken'ya

• Signatures

  Ken'ya

• Label

  The shape and size of this object suggest a dish for an individual food portion, a mukozuke. The boat-shape contour, called funagata, was a popular item in the Kyoto ceramics repertory. The diagonal surface division is a device known as kakiwake, a device that the original Kenzan learned from Oribe ware and textile design. Here, Ken'ya has executed a plum painting in a Rimpa style, and it shows a comic distention typical of the nineteenth century.

• 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. 1310, 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, 1860s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Honma, Kosa

• Place

  Tokyo, Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Japanese Art, Iridescence, Ceramics, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Plum blossom

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)