Hizen ware bottle in tea-whisk form

Object Details

• Description

  Bottle in Japanese tea-whisk form, on low foot rim with narrow neck and spreading collar; smooth pear-shaped body

  Clay: white porcelain.

  Glaze: transparent.

  Decoration: overglaze enamel colors; stylized bands in red around neck collar; nature motifs including plum, pine and bamboo painted in red, yellow, blue and aubergine on body.

• Label

  Japanese porcelains with overglaze enamels of this type, derived from Chinese decorated porcelain of the first half of the seventeenth century, formerly were thought to have been made at the Kutani kilns in Ishikawa prefecture. Archaeological research has now demonstrated that they were made at the Arita kilns in Saga prefecture, the former Hizen province. This style of decoration represents the earliest phase of enamel decoration on Japanese porcelain. The principle motif on this bottle is the "three friends of winter—pine, plum, and bamboo."

• Provenance

  From at least 1967 to 1970

  Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), Washington, DC and Mt. Kisco, NY, from at least 1967 [1]

  From 1970

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer on June 21, 1971 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] The vase was examined and stored for Agnes E. Meyer at the Freer Gallery in 1967, see W. T. Chase’s note, dated June 1967, in object file.

  [2] Agnes E. Meyer expressed a wish of donating the vase to the Freer Gallery in a letter to John A. Pope, dated January 28, 1969. The vase was acquired from Agnes E. Meyer Estate, see Deed of Gift, dated May 31, 1971, copy in object file, where the object is listed as no. 4.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Art from the Collection (October 26, 2024 - ongoing)

  Cornucopia: Ceramics of Southern Japan (December 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011)

  Summer Whites: Japanese Porcelain (July 1, 1983 to March 15, 1984)

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

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

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

  Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Memorial Exhibition (September 25, 1971 to October 2, 1972)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer ((1875-1959) and (1887-1970))

• Origin

  Arita, Saga prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 06: Japanese Art from the Collection

• Restrictions and Rights

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Meyer, Eugene and Agnes E.

• Place

  Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita

• Topic

  Pine tree, Tea, Porcelain, Art, Arita ware, early enamel type, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes