Peach-shaped cup

Object Details

• Artist

  Spurious signature of Chen Mingyuan (active late 17th-early 18th century)

• Description

  Cup, probably a brush-washer, half-peach form. Signature: Mingyuan, incised. Seal (positive), Chen Mingyuan, impressed.

  Clay: beige-buff refined stoneware.

  Glaze: none.

  Decoration: peach branch with leaves and fruit, modeled in high relief. Slight spatter of red slip on peach tips.

• Signatures

  Spurious signature of Chen Mingyuan.

• Label

  A cup shaped like the peach of immortality made an ideal birthday or New Year's gift. Traces of ink indicate that this cup was used for washing brushes. The owner may have hoped for immortality for his writing as well as for himself.

  This cup was made in Jiangsu Province in Yixing County, an area famous for producing unglazed colored-clay teapots and scholars' objects that are admired for their rustic elegance.

• Provenance

  To 1916

  Lai-Yuan and Company, New York, to 1916 [1]

  From 1916 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Lai-Yuan and Company in 1916 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2487, 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

  On Becoming Immortal (May 9, 1993 to August 15, 1994)

  Chinese Art (May 9 to November 29, 1993)

  Ch'ing Dynasty Calligraphy and Painting (August 30, 1985 to January 26, 1986)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Lai-Yuan & Company (ca. 1915-April 1921) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Yixing, Jiangsu province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• 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.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1800s, 1930s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Lai-Yuan & Company

• Place

  Jiangsu province, Yixing, China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Fruit, Scholar, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Slip, Immortality, Ceramics, Modern period (1912 - present), Yixing ware

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)