Arita ware oval bowl in Kakiemon style, used as tea ceremony water jar

Object Details

• Description

  An oval-shaped bowl with black lacquer cover, used as incense burner (koro) or tea ceremony water jar (mizusashi)

  Clay: fine white porcelain

  Glaze: lustrous, milk-white

  Decoration: vitrifiable enamels in phoenix and plum blossom design.

• Label

  The oval form of this slip-cast bowl is a modern addition to the repertory of wheel-thrown shapes made in workshops in Arita since the late seventeenth century and decorated in the Kakiemon style. In that style, named after one of the major workshops in Arita, strong red iron-oxide pigment highlights the palette of clear enamels used to execute sparse motifs, whose small scale emphasizes the milky white of the porcelain clay. On this piece the motif is a rose bush growing against a fence.

• Provenance

  To 1953

  Howard Hollis & Co., Cleveland, Ohio. [1]

  From 1953

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Howard Hollis & Co., Cleveland, Ohio. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Tea Ceremony in Japan XII (July 2, 2000 to February 4, 2001)

  Japanese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to January 17, 1980)

  Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)

  Japanese Art—Paintings, Pottery (August 18, 1967 to September 20, 1971)

  Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)

  Hokusai Bicentennial Exhibition (March 30, 1960 to August 16, 1961)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1955 (October 25, 1955 to November 22, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Howard Hollis and Company (established 1949)

• Origin

  possibly Mikawachi, Saga prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• 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.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s, 1860s

• Name

  Howard Hollis and Company

• Place

  Mikawachi, Japan, Saga prefecture

• Topic

  Water, Art, Incense, Taisho era (1912 - 1926), Ceramics, Flowers, Plum blossom, Tea, Porcelain, Arita ware, Japanese Art, Lacquer, Phoenix, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)