Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Wide-mouthed storage jar (kame) with broad, flattened upright rim on short, conical neck tapering inward, high rounded shoulder, and body tapering to narrow, flat base.

  Vessel was built up in three stages, using clay coils attached to the flat base; the coils were consolidated by paddling on the exterior and smoothing with a wet cloth on the interior. Surface of entire body surface textured with cross-hatching imparted by wooden paddle, carved with cross-hatch grooves, used to consolidate (and decorate) surface. (Paddle was struck on the diagonal, so cross-hatching appears like diamond lattice.) Horizontal band impressed by finger or tool 12 cm. above base, another band 15 cm above that, probably impressed over seams between stages of coiling. Lower edge of body at base trimmed in broad bevel. Interior surface shows traces of coils partially obscured by overall horizontal wiping with coarse cloth. Flat base, bearing undulating parallel grooves, as though damp vessel had been removed from turntable and set on bed of rice straw to dry.

  Clay: dense, fine-grained medium-gray clay, fired in heavy reduction or end-of-firing smudging to dark gray surface. Clay rings (fired to vitrification). On lower wall, lighter gray "shadow" with arching outline left by adjacent vessel deflecting passage of air and soot during firing. Dark gray coating worn off on some relief areas and around edge of base, and surfaces worn shiny, from prolonged use.

  Glaze: none.

  Decoration: none, aside from decorative effect of carved wooden paddle used to consolidate surface.

  Mark: none.

• Provenance

  Private Japanese collection [1]

  To 1999

  Leighton Longhi, New York City, to 1999

  From 1999

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Leighton Longhi in 1999

  Notes:

  [1] This jar was in private hands in Japan until recently, and was published in the Japanese magazine Rokusho no. 23 (1997), pp. 72-73 (according to Curatorial Note 4, Louise Cort, October 6, 1998, in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Storage Jars of Asia (October 29, 2000 to March 10, 2002)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Leighton Longhi

• Origin

  Kameyama kilns, Okayama prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Harold P. Stern Memorial Fund

• 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.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1300s

• Name

  Longhi, Leighton

• Place

  Kameyama kilns, Japan, Okayama prefecture

• Topic

  Kamakura period (1185 - 1333), Art, Muromachi period (1333 - 1573), Stoneware, Japanese Art, Ceramics, Kameyama ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)