Incense container with design of Narrow Ivy Road

Object Details

• Artist

  Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743)

  Narutaki workshop (active 1699-1712)

• Description

  Clay: fine-grained buff stoneware.

  Glaze: transparent.

  Decoration: in cobalt and iron under glaze. Red, green enamel, and gold, over glaze.

  Marks on base.

• Signatures

  Kenzan

• Marks

  Three spurmarks on base.

• Label

  Ogata Kenzan's small, molded box made for incense or seal paste bears a famous scene from the tenth-century literary classic Tales of Ise, in which an exiled courtier composes a poem to be carried back to Kyoto by a wandering ascetic.

• Provenance

  To 1907

  Unidentified owner, Japan, to 1907 [1]

  From 1907 to 1919

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

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1562, 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

  Rinpa: Creativity Across Time and Space (October 1, 2022 to April 2, 2023)

  Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art (June 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Tea Ceramics after Koetsu (June 27, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  Poetic License: Making Old Worlds New (February 2 to August 4, 2013)

  Arts of Japan: Edo Aviary and Poetic License (February 2 to August 4, 2013)

  Landscapes in Japanese Art (February 2 to July 15, 2007)

  Freer: A Taste for Japanese Art (July 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007)

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

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to June 27, 1994)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Container

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Incense, Japanese Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Containers