Tea bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Bowl, broad ovoidal with expanding lip; bold foot. Five spur marks inside, and kiln-marks on foot. Gold lacquer repairs.

  Clay: hard, fine, grayish, thinly potted. Porcelain.

  Glaze: cream-white, crackled, with large areas of variable brownish discoloration.

• Label

  Provincial Korean porcelain bowls were prized as tea bowls in Japan. Discoloration of the clay of such bowls was caused by the tea's seeping through pores in the glaze. Japanese connoisseurs poetically compared the subtle variations in color to the rain-stained plaster walls of a dilapidated hut. Gold lacquer was the material customarily used in Japan for ornamental repairs of chips and cracks.

• Provenance

  To 1905

  Edward G. Getz, New York to 1905 [1]

  From 1905 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Edward G. Getz in 1905 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1337, 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

  Korean Tea Bowls for Japan (July 1, 2012 to August 20, 2013)

  Cornucopia: Ceramics of Southern Japan (December 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011)

  An Invitation to Tea (November 9, 1996 to April 26, 1998)

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to November 21, 1995)

  Korean Art (December 17, 1984 to June 23, 1986)

  Korean Art (March 20, 1982 to 2 April 1984)

  Korean Art (June 4, 1982 to September 23, 1982)

  Korean Art (July 15, 1981 to September 15, 1981)

  Korean Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to October 13, 1978)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Edward G. Getz (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Jinju city or Sancheong county, western Gyeongsangnam-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

  1590s, 1550s

• Name

  Getz, Edward G., Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Jinju city, western Gyeongsangnam-do province, Sancheong county, Korea

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Joseon period (1392 - 1910), Clear glaze, Lacquer repair, Stoneware, Lacquer, Korean Art, Ceramics, Unvitrified porcelain

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)