Tea bowl with traces of painted gold decoration on the interior

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: coarse buff stoneware.

  Glaze: thick, black with brown areas.

  Decoration: traces of former painting in gold inside; design includes four characters: Fu-hai-shou-shan.

• Label

  Although now mostly worn away, the decoration in gold inside this tea bowl is of four flowers and parallel lines. The center of each flower contains a Chinese character; together the words are an abbreviation for the homily "May you live as long as South Mountain and may your blessings be as great as the Eastern Sea." This type of bowl formerly was thought to be Jizhou ware but is now identified with the Yulinding kilns in northern Fujian prodince.

• Provenance

  To 1956

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

  From 1956

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

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Beyond Paper: Chinese Calligraphy on Objects (August 18, 1994 to July 3, 1997)

  Luminous Shadows (April 1, 1982 to June 21, 1982)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Howard Hollis and Company (established 1949)

• Origin

  Yulinding kilns, Fujian province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s, 1200s

• Name

  Howard Hollis and Company

• Place

  Yulinding kilns, China, Fujian province

• Topic

  Tea, Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Yulinding ware, Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), Ceramics

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)