Vase

Object Details

• Description

  Vase, melon-shaped with tall neck expanding to trumpet-mouth; spreading petalled foot; kiln slag attachments.

  Clay: hard, white, porcellanous.

  Glaze: brilliant white with faint greenish trend.

  Decoration: incised in paste under glaze.

• Label

  This melon-shaped vase was excavated from a Koryo dynasty (918-1372) royal tomb and was acquired in Korea in the late nineteenth century by its previous owner. Chinese porcelain with pale blue (qinqbai) glaze was widely exported not only to Korea but also to Japan, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.

• Provenance

  Unknown owners, Seoul [1]

  From 1884-1898 to 1907

  Dr. Horace N. Allen (1858-1932), Toledo, Ohio, purchased from unknown owners, in Seoul, during 1884-1898 [2]

  From 1907 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Dr. Horace N. Allen in 1907 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Horace N. Allen acquired his collection in Seoul between 1884 and 1898. See Horace Allen, Copy of a Certified Catalogue of a Collection of Ancient Korean Pottery:

  purchased and owned by Horace Newton Allen (Nak Tong [Korea]: Seoul Press, 1901), pg. 7.

  [2] See Original Pottery List, L. 1608, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Pamphlets S.I. 738 and S.I. 739 for Allen Correspondence, as well as Pamphlet S.I. 740, Original Allen Catalogue, No. 6, pg. 10.

  [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

  Rediscovering Korea’s Past (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Black and White: Chinese Ceramics from the 10th-14th Centuries (December 18, 2004 to November 7, 2010)

  Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)

  Chinese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to September 4, 1980)

  Korean Art (June 19, 1969 to November 10, 1976)

  Korean Art (November 2, 1959 to November 22, 1971)

  Early Chinese Pottery and Scultpure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1916 (March 6 to October 15, 1916)

  Untitled Exhibition, The Japan Society, February 1914 (February 1914)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. Horace N. Allen (1858-1932) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 14: Rediscovering Korea's Past

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s, 1000s

• Name

  Allen, Horace N., Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Porcelain, Art, Qingbai ware, Chinese Art, Ceramics, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes