Oribe ware ewer with designs of blossoming plum branches and various geometic motifs

Object Details

• Description

  Light buff clay. Four small lug-shaped feet on base. Underglaze iron painted decoration of blossoming plum branches and various geometric motifs. Clear glaze and copper-tinted green ash glaze, applied separately; base unglazed except at edges; inside unglazed. Ink inscriptions on base and underside of lid.

• Inscriptions

  Written in ink on the base of this ewer and on the unglazed bottom of the lid are inscriptions that seem to be owners' marks.

• Label

  This ewer would have been used to refill the fresh-water jar midway during a tea ceremony. The patchwork of decorative motifs derives from contemporary tsujigahana textile design, which combined tie-dyed areas of color with hand-drawn motifs on the white ground.

  Oribe ware is distinguished by the use of a glaze tinted green with copper oxide fired in oxidation. The glaze sometimes was used as an overall coating for vessels but more typically was applied in carefully calculated patches to contrast with areas of pictorial or geometric decoration painted with iron pigment under clear glaze. Oribe ware became a staple of the Mino kilns from circa 1600, with the startup of the first new type of multi-chambered climbing kiln to be built in Mino at Motoyashiki. This ewer may have been made at the Kamagane kiln, which operated circa 1610-1635.

• Provenance

  To 1969

  S. Yabumoto Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. [1]

  From 1969

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from S. Yabumoto Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Oribe Ware: Color and Pattern in Japanese Ceramics (December 13, 2014 to June 14, 2015)

  Parades: Freer Ceramics Installed by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (November 4, 2006 to January 7, 2008)

  The Idea of China in Japan: The Tea Ceremony in Japan (December 19, 1999 to June 11, 2000)

  The Glazed Ceramic Tradition of Mino and Seto Wares (April 26, 1985 to January 13, 1986)

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

  Japanese Art (July 1, 1974 to April 10, 1978)

  Japanese Art: Paintings and Pottery (July 1, 1966 to May 2, 1973)

• Previous custodian or owner

  S. Yabumoto Co., Ltd.

• Origin

  Probably Kamagane kilns, Toki city, Gifu prefecture, Japan

• 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

  1700s, 1710s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1680s, 1670s, 1660s

• Name

  S. Yabumoto Co., Ltd.

• Place

  Kamagane kilns, Toki city, Japan, Gifu prefecture

• Topic

  Tea, Art, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Stoneware, Japanese Art, Mino ware, Oribe type, Ceramics, Edo period, Japan, 1600-1868, Plum blossom

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)