Figure of a water buffalo

Object Details

• Description

  Paste: hard, grayish-white stoneware.

  Glaze: white; olive-gray in the hollows.

  Decoration: details incised.

  Contains marks.

• Marks

  Contains dealer stickers.

• Provenance

  To 1909

  Ta Kou Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ta Kou Chai in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2033, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pg. 18, Ta Kou Tchai was another spelling for Daguzhai, a Beijing curio shop owned by a dealer named Huo Mingzhi (who was born 1879, and whom Charles Lang Freer referred to as Mr. Ho).

  [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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ta Kou Chai (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Hebei province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Ta Kou Chai

• Place

  China, Hebei province

• Topic

  Jin dynasty (1115 - 1234), Charles Lang Freer collection, Porcelain, Art, Qingbai ware, Chinese Art, Ceramics, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture