Heavily potted jar

Object Details

• Provenance

  February 1957-1982

  Found by John Alexander Pope (1906-1982) in the vicinity of Wat Pa Tung kilns, Sankampaeng County, Chiangmai Province, Thailand [1]

  From 1982

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remark, dated November 13, 2024, copy in object file. According to the Curatorial Remark, “[John A.] Pope's marking ‘F’ in black grease pencil indicates collected in the vicinity of Wat Pa Tung kiln group. [/] Collected by John A. Pope in February 1957. Pope's notes in the Freer/Sackler Archives state that ‘miscellaneous finds on the roads and in the fields near Wat Pa Tung’ in Sankampaeng were marked by Pope with an ‘F’ in black grease pencil.”

  [2] See note 1.

  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.

  [3] See note 1. The object is part of the museum’s Freer Study Collection.

  Research updated November 13, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. John Alexander Pope (1906-1982)

• Origin

  Vicinity of Wat Pa Tung kilns, Chiangmai Province, Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of John A. Pope

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1300s

• Name

  Pope, John Alexander

• Place

  Chiangmai Province, Vicinity of Wat Pa Tung kilns, Thailand

• Topic

  Art, Stoneware, Southeast Asian Art, San Kamphaeng ware, Ceramics, Lan Na period (1251 - 1774)

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)