Bowl

Object Details

• Description

  American, 20th century, Early Pewabic

  Bowl, small, deep

  Clay: dense

  Glaze: mingled green and gray, with a high golden iridescence.

• Inscriptions

  - Rectangular sticker affixed to base of vessel, "2355" printed in black ink

  - Rectangular sticker affixed to base of vessel, "3588" printed in black ink

  - Round sticker affixed to base of vessel, "Pewabic Detroit" printed in black ink, "450 14" written in pencil in center

  - Round sticker affixed to base of vessel, "Pewabic Detroit" printed in black ink, "450 14" written in pencil in center

• Label

  The Pewabic Pottery was a ceramics workshop in Detroit established at the turn of the century. The primary aesthetic interest of its founder, Mary Chase Perry Stratton, was the art of glazing, or "painting with fire." Stratton's friend and patron Charles Lang Freer fostered her efforts by providing fragments of ancient Asian pots to emulate. Her mature works are clearly inspired by the surfaces and shapes of ceramics in Freer's collection, particularly the Islamic pottery known as Raqqa ware, with its distinctive iridescence. The surfaces also resonate with paintings in Freer's collection by James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Dewing, and Dwight Tryon.

• Provenance

  To 1912

  Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan, 1912 [1]

  1912-1920

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See receipt from Pewabic Pottery to Charles L. Freer, August 7, 1912 (received August 12, 1912), Box 119, Folder 4, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC copy in object file. On the receipt, there is an annotation next to the object's description, noting "no charge."

  [2] See voucher No. 10, August 9, 1912, Box 119, Folder 4, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC copy in object file.

  [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.

  Research completed July 28, 2022.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Painting with Fire (October 21, 2018 to July 7, 2019)

  Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision (February 23, 2008 to August 1, 2010)

  Pewabic Pottery (November 20, 1979 to March 5, 1981)

  American Paintings: Abbott Handerson Thayer 1849-1921 (December 11, 1976 to April 18, 1977)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Pewabic Pottery (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Detroit, Michigan, United States

• 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

  1910s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Pewabic Pottery

• Place

  Detroit, United States, Michigan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Glazed, Iridescence, Ceramics, Pewabic ware

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)