Flower vase with auspicious decor in overglaze enamels

Object Details

• Artist

  Kyoto workshop

  Imitation of Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743)

• Description

  Vase in Qing style. Broken into many pieces and mended.

  Clay: hard, grayish stoneware.

  Glaze: colorless transparent glaze over white slip on body, over clay on base.

  Decoration: in iron brown under glaze and red, yellow, green, blue and purple enamels over glaze. Four characters. Incised details. Central design of two Chinese-style Islands of the Immortals alternating with leaping fish among flaming clouds and astronomical patterns. Four characters within cartouches in wide band below neck; lotus petal band around base.

• Signatures

  Kenzan, in iron brown under glaze inset into lotus panel above base.

• Provenance

  To 1907

  Unidentified owner, Tokyo, Japan, to 1907 [1]

  From 1907 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased in Tokyo, Japan, from an unidentified owner in spring of 1907 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1561, 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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, 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

  1900s, 1860s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Daoist Immortals, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Fishes, Japanese Art, Ceramics, Flowers, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Lotus

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)