Covered box

Object Details

• Description

  Small covered box with domed lid, knob shaped like a stem and calyx of mangosteen

  Clay: light gray stoneware with black flecks.

  Glaze: translucent; milky blue where thick.

  Decoration: painted in underglaze iron, four panels overlapping seam, filled alternately with cross-hatching and foliage.

  Mark: none.

• Label

  Small boxes were a staple product of the kilns near the Thai city of Si Satchanalai and were widely distributed along international trade routes. This box was found in Indonesia, but in Japan such boxes were used to hold incense pellets that were dropped on the charcoal fire to perfume the tearoom. The box is shaped like the tropical fruit called mangosteen, but the Japanese, unfamiliar with that fruit, identified the form as a persimmon.

• Provenance

  From ca. 1968

  Dorothy M. Slak, acquired ca. 1968 from Jakarta, Indonesia. [1]

  From 1986

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Dorothy M. Slak, Sarasota, Florida. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 3 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920 file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Tea Ceremony as Melting Pot (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ms. Dorothy M. Slak

• Origin

  Ban Pa Yang kilns, Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai province, Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of Dorothy M. Slak

• Type

  Container

• 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.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1580s

• Name

  Slak, Dorothy M.

• Place

  Ban Pa Yang kilns, Sukhothai province, Si Satchanalai, Thailand

• Topic

  Art, Ayutthaya period (1351 - 1767), Stoneware, Brown and black glaze, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics, Sawankhalok ware, Iron pigment

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Containers