Fragment of the base, wall, and rim of a small celadon bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Shape: Fragment of a small celadon bowl. Wheel thrown. The shard includes part of the footring, wall, and rim of the bowl. Height of the footring is approximately 1.5 cm on the outside and 1.1 cm on the inside. The wall of the bowl is 0.9 cm thick immediately above the foot and 0.4 cm thick at the rim. The footring is well-carved and bevelled/rounded on the outside bottom edge.

  Clay: Very fine, light gray stoneware clay with a moderate number of fine black inclusions and small air pockets. The gray clay burned brick-red where exposed to the kiln atmosphere.

  Glaze: Unctuous, translucent, thick apple-green celadon. The bubbly glaze is uncrackled and covers the footring as well as the mouth of the bowl. The inside of the foot has an unglazed ring which was used to support the bowl during firing.

  Decoration: The outside wall displays incised lotus petals which extend from the top of the footring almost to the rim. The mirror appears to have borne at least two impressed fish although only the very ends of the tails are visible on the shard. The fish were enclosed by two incised circles.

  Marks: None.

• Provenance

  To 1957

  John A. Pope (1906-1982), Washington DC, collected between August 1956 and April 1957 in Angkor, Cambodia. [1]

  From 1957

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of John A. Pope, Washington DC [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remark 2 in the object record. See also “Ceramics in Mainland and Southeast Asia: Collections in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery”, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

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

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. John Alexander Pope (1906-1982)

• Origin

  Longquan, Zhejiang province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of John A. Pope

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1300s

• Name

  Pope, John Alexander

• Place

  China, Zhejiang province, Longquan

• Topic

  Art, Green glaze, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Fishes, Longquan ware, Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368), Ceramics, Lotus

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)