Chayang ware tea bowl in style of Jian ware

Object Details

• Description

  Tea bowl [Chn]; roughly trimmed, flawed body, slightly concave square-sided foot. Silver rim applied over lip. Slight repair inside lip. Accompanying stand: F1911. 634.

  Clay: dense, dark gray. Apparently light-colored stoneware under much darkened surface.

  Glaze: brilliant bluish-black with areas of reddish and yellowish tones; iridescent. (Stand catalogued separately as F1911.634). Temmoku type, iridescent black; areas of black; areas of brown; stops short of foot, a thin buff layer runs down below thick dark layer, giving effect of double application.

• Label

  Many bowls of this type, which resemble the classic Jian ware black-glazed tea bowl but differ in form, trimming of the foot, and glazing, were used in Japan, where they were known as haikatsugi (ash-covered) bowls, from the grayish appearance of their glaze. Japanese connoisseurs ranked them lower than Jian ware, but they became important in the style of tea drinking known as wabicha that developed in the sixteenth century. Recently one kiln that made bowls of this type has been identified in Nanping City, Fujian Province; it is known as the Chayang kiln. This kiln also produced white porcelain that is excavated in Okinawa and in Hakata. No doubt other kilns made this type of Jian-style tea bowl, but for the moment the Chayang kiln is representative.

• Provenance

  To 1911

  Shinsuke Hayashi, Tokyo, to 1911 [1]

  From 1911 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Shinsuke Hayashi in 1911 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Pottery List, L. 2141, 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

  Imperfectly Beautiful: Inventing Japanese Ceramic Style (October 14, 2017 - October 14, 2019)

  Chinese Ceramics for Tea in Japan (March 8 to September 14, 2014)

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

  The Idea of China in Japan: The Tea Ceremony in Japan (December 19, 1999 to June 11, 2000)

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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Shinsuke Hayashi 林新助 (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Chayang kiln, Nanping, Fujian province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1200s, 1300s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Shinsuke, Hayashi

• Place

  Nanping, China, Fujian province, Chayang kiln

• Topic

  Chayang ware, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368), Iridescence, Ceramics, Jian ware

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)