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At A Glance

On View
  • Period

    ca. 1914
  • Geography

    Detroit, Michigan, United States
  • Material

    Glazed clay
  • Dimension

    H x Diam (overall): 13.8 x 10 cm (5 7/16 x 3 15/16 in)
  • Accession Number

    F1914.119
  • EDAN ID

    edanmdm:fsg_F1914.119

Object Details

  • Description

    Jar, small, ovoid
    Clay: dense, soft
    Glaze: lapis-lazuli blue with a thin green overflow; iridescent
  • 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 1914
    Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI, to 1914 [1]
    From 1914 to 1919
    Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pewabic Pottery in 1914 [2]
    From 1920
    Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
    Notes:
    [1] Object file. Present location of voucher unknown.
    [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

    Freer’s Global Network: Artists, Collectors, and Dealers (October 15, 2022 - ongoing)
    James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Figure (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
    Pewabic Pottery (November 20, 1979 to March 5, 1981)
    American Paintings (November 11, 1976 to October 12, 1978)
  • 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
  • On View

    Freer Gallery 09: Freer’s Global Network
  • Restrictions and Rights

    Usage Conditions Apply

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