Pottery: Unidentified form

Object Details

• Provenance

  1. (Sara Berg, April 3, 2025) Provenance posted on April 3, 2025. Prior to that date no provenance information in the database.

  1957-1957

  Found by John Alexander Pope (1906-1982) in Thailand [1]

  From 1957

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of John Alexander Pope [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Study Collection object card for FSC-P-2250–2586, copy in object file. The card for FSC-P-2250–2586 states that the sherds were collected by John Alexander Pope from sites in Thailand in February 1957.

  See also Study Collection object card, copy in object file. Object’s source is described as, “Sawankalok [/] Payang or Koh-noi [/] prob. Koh-noi).”

  See also John Alexander Pope, Curriculum Vitae, dated April 1976, copy in object file. Between September 1956 and April 1957, John A. Pope traveled to Asia and England. In Southeast Asia, Pope specifically visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Borneo), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

  John Alexander Pope (1906-1982) was a renowned scholar and collector of Asian art, especially Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He spent most of his professional career at the Freer Gallery of Art, which he joined in 1943 as an Associate in Research. He later served as Assistant Director (1946 to 1962) and then as Director (1962 to 1971). After his retirement in August 1971, he continued at the Freer Gallery of Art as Director Emeritus and Research Curator for Far Eastern Ceramics. He is also known for his two pioneering studies of early Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, “Fourteenth Century Blue and White" (1952) and "Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine" (1956). Pope also acquired many pottery sherds during his frequent travels to Asian and Europe, and many of the sherds are now part of the study collection at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution.

  [2] See note 1, Study Collection object card for FSC-P-2250–2586.

  The object is part of the museum’s Freer Study Collection.

  Research updated November 18, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. John Alexander Pope (1906-1982)

• Origin

  Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of John A. Pope

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Name

  Pope, John Alexander

• Place

  Thailand

• Topic

  Art, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)