Vase with design of herons and reeds

Object Details

• Description

  Vase featuring design of two herons standing in water amongst reeds. Classic "mei-ping" shape with thick rim, short neck and broad, squared shoulders. Body tapers gradually down from shoulders to rest on flat base. Foot trimmed to create footring.

  Clay: Porcelain, footring darkened on surface by use.

  Glaze: Underglaze blue applied to create the water and reeds and outline of herons. Grey glaze appears dusted onto body in highest concentration around design. Traces of grey throughout entire body. Colorless glaze applied to interior, exterior and foot. Unglazed footrim.

  Decoration: Two white herons standing in blue water amongst delicate, swaying blue reeds. One bird, turned sideways, faces left and stands on one leg with its neck and head turned toward the other bird who is facing right and standing on both legs with its back towards the viewer. The grey background highlights the herons, shades their feathers and fills in the outlines for their beaks, eyes and legs.

  Signatures/Inscriptions: Two paper labels: "CMK 27" and "0 6497 $10.00". (This piece still retains its original price sticker on its foot.)

• Label

  This vase was part of a collection formed by Charles M. Kurtz (1855-1909), during the period when he served as assistant art director for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and art director for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Centennial International Exposition in St. Louis. Kurtz's collecting focused on porcelain with highly colored glazed. Along with these pieces by prominent Japanese potters, Kurtz acquired vases of similar shapes and colors from American and European factories. Kurtz's collection, representative of a broad popular interest in Japanese art in the late nineteenth century, also reflects the growing internationalism in the decoration of ceramics resulting from rapid exchange of information and technology facilitated by the international fairs.

• Provenance

  To ?

  Charles M. Kurtz (1855-1909). [1]

  To 1991

  Isabel S. Kurtz (1901-1991). [2]

  From 1991

  Freer Gallery of Art, bequest of Isabel S. Kurtz (1901-1991). [3]

  Notes:

  [1] Ms. Isabel Kurtz bequeathed the group of Asian ceramics, F1991.19-.44, to the Freer Gallery of Art.

  These objects had been collected by her father, Charles M. Kurtz, who was a friend of Charles Freer.

  Also see Curatorial Remark 2 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920 file, Collections Management Office.

  [3] See note 2.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles M. Kurtz (1855-1909)

  Isabel S. Kurtz (1901-1991)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Bequest of Isabel S. Kurtz

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s

• Name

  Kurtz, Isabel S., Kurtz, Charles M.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Cobalt pigment, Porcelain, Art, Japanese Art, Enamel and enameling, Ceramics, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Herons

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)