Tea-leaf storage jar, named Chigusa

Object Details

• Description

  Jar, wheel-thrown and paddle-shaped. Four lugs applied to shoulder.

  Clay: stoneware, coarse-grained, reddish-brown on surface.

  Glaze: wood-ash glaze colored with iron-bearing clay, applied by pouring over inverted jar in overlapping pours; glaze has fired to variegated golden-brown tones with small white dots where glaze thins over small stones protruding from the body. Lower wall, base, and interior unglazed.

  Mark: ciphers written on base with brush and ink.

• Marks

  Mark: ciphers attributed to Soami, Insetsu, and Ju no Soho, and name and cipher of Kondaya Tokurin, plus one unidentified mark, and auspicious character sho, written on base with brush and ink.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Chigusa and the Art of Tea (February 22 to July 27, 2014)

  Chakai on the occasion of the inauguration of the Omotesenke Domo nkai (June 22, 2010)

  Kaikan sanjugoshunen kinen tokubetsuten--Yamanoue no Soji ki: Tensho juyonnen no me (Yamanoue Soji's Notes (On the proper use of fine tea utensils)) (October 28 to November 26, 1995)

  Tokubetsu tenrankai yonhyakunen ki--Sen no Rikyu ten (Special Exhibition-Sen no Rikyu: the 400th Memorial) (March 27 to May 6, 1990)

  Urasenke Konnichian and Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Chanoyu no bijutsuten—Rikyu to sono doto. (February 22 to March 5, 1985)

  Chakai on the occasion of the commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the death of Tsuda Sogyu (1940)

• Origin

  Guangdong province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1200s, 1300s

• Place

  China, Japan, Guangdong province

• Topic

  Tea, Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Japanese Art, Brown and black glaze, Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), Tea ceremony, Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368), Ceramics

• Culture

  Chinese, Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)