Fragment of underglaze cobalt-blue-painted wall tile

Object Details

• Description

  Shape: Fragment of a hollow-back, Vietnamese wall tile. The roughly bevelled side wall of the tile ranges in thickness from 2.2 cm near the face to 1.3 cm at the base. The height of the wall is 4.1 cm from face to base. The tile is approximately 1.0 cm thick from face to hollowed-out back.

  Clay: The body consists of a very fine clay which ranges in color from off-white to light gray (near the face of the tile) and exhibits many small air pockets but virtually no inclusions.

  Glaze: A thin transparent glaze covers the tile face and walls. It is not clear whether there is a slip under the cobalt-blue underglaze

  but this appears to be the case. The thin, clear glaze exhibits a dense crackling.

  Decoration: Decoration consists of underglaze cobalt-blue painting of flowers and leaves connected by a thin vine. The decoration is painted freely in the Chinese style under a transparent glaze on top of the tile. The foliate scroll and parts of a flower are painted in a typically Annamese interpretation with a band of light color within an outline and solid color inside the petals and center of the single, presumably chrysanthemum, blossom. The cobalt decoration is very dark blue, especially where the painter applied the pigment thickly and it has burned through the thin glaze.

  Marks: None.

• Provenance

  To 1957

  Abu Ridho, Jakarta, Indonesia. [1]

  1957

  John A. Pope (1906-1982), Washington DC, gift of Abu Ridho, Jakarta, Indonesia. [2]

  From 1957

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of John A. Pope, Washington DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1. See also object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Abu Ridho (born 1927)

  Dr. John Alexander Pope (1906-1982)

• Origin

  Red River Delta kilns, Hai Duong province, Vietnam

• Credit Line

  Gift of John A. Pope

• Type

  Architectural Element

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1400s

• Name

  Pope, John Alexander, Ridho, Abu

• Place

  Hai Duong province, Vietnam, Red River Delta kilns

• Topic

  Art, Chrysanthemum, Later Le dynasty (1428 - 1527), Stoneware, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics, Flowers

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Architectural elements