Serving dish with design of "Three Friends"

Object Details

• Description

  Dish; rim indented in five places; low square-cut foot; wheel-thrown; unusually large size for this ware; four gold lacquer repairs on rim.

  Clay: cream-buff stoneware.

  Glaze: (1) transparent, feldspathic, slightly rough matte surface; uneven, some areas of crackle; scars and inclusions. (2) three large areas of glossier copper green, pooling and mottling in uneven thickness.

  Decoration: painted in underglaze iron brown in design of bamboo and bamboo sprouts above five-petalled blossoms in hexagonal diaper pattern, simple foliate scroll on rim, except in parts under green glaze. Three irregular patches of green glaze extending from rim edge towards center.

  Accessories: wooden storage box.

• Label

  The craftsman who decorated this dish began by ladling three scoops of copper-green glaze over the surface, creating somewhat randomly the area to be filled with painted decoration. The decoration combines naturalistic bamboo plants—including abundant bamboo shoots, a

  delicacy of early spring in Japanese cuisine—and geometric patterns. Dishes of this large size were used to serve food at banquets.

• Provenance

  ?-1973

  Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts 古美術 柳, Kyoto, Japan method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1973

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See letter from Harold P. Stern, Director of the Freer Gallery of Art to Mr. Takashi Yanagi 柳孝 on Nawate Street in Kyoto, Japan. In the letter, Stern thanks Yanagi for hosting him at his gallery, Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, where he saw this ceramic ware and several other objects. In July 1972, Yanagi shipped the object via Japan Aircargo Consolidators to Washington D.C., allowing the Freer Gallery of Art to inspect the ware for purchase.

  Yanagi Takashi (d.2021) was a preeminent dealer of Japanese wares and owned Yanagi Fine Arts.

  [2] See letter from Yanagi Takashi, August 28, 1973, original in accession file. In the letter, Takashi confirms receipt of payment.

  Research completed November 2, 2022.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

  Landscapes in Japanese Art (February 2 to July 15, 2007)

  Japanese Ceramics from Seto and Mino (January 19, 1996 to August 5, 2001)

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

  Boxed In: Japanese Ceramics and Their Storage Boxes (September 23, 1982 to February 17, 1983)

  Japanese Ceramics (June 22, 1982 to September 27, 1982)

  Japanese Ceramics (July 15, 1980 to June 21, 1982)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Takashi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts

  Takashi Yanagi

• Origin

  Probably Kamagane kilns, Tajimi, Gifu 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.

  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.

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• 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

  Takashi, Yanagi, Takashi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts

• Place

  Kamagane kilns, Japan, Tajimi, Gifu prefecture

• Topic

  Art, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Lacquer repair, Stoneware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Lacquer, Mino ware, Oribe type, Ceramics, Flowers, Bamboo

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)