Asahi ware cylindrical tea bowl

Cylindrical tea bowl (tsutsu chawan 筒茶碗) Low foot with four notches: spiral carved on base.
Clay: hard, ringing, grayish. under glaze, dark brown where exposed, with spots of iron bleeding through glaze.
Glaze: Clear glossy glaze. Opaque white around rim, dripping down one side.
Footrim and base glazed.
Mark: Inner edge of footrim: “Asahi.”
Decoration: vertical slashes on walls, cutting through pronounced throwing marks.

Historical period(s)
Edo period or Meiji era, 19th century
Medium
Stoneware with ash and rice-straw ash glazes
Style
Asahi ware
Dimensions
H x W (overall): 8.9 x 8.9 cm (3 1/2 x 3 1/2 in)
Geography
Japan, Kyoto prefecture, Uji
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1893.13
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl (tsutsujawan)

Keywords
Asahi ware, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1893
Tozo Takayanagi, New York to 1893 [1]

From 1893 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Tozo Takayanagi in 1893 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 302, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s)

Takayanagi Tozo (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Cylindrical tea bowl (tsutsu chawan 筒茶碗) Low foot with four notches: spiral carved on base.
Clay: hard, ringing, grayish. under glaze, dark brown where exposed, with spots of iron bleeding through glaze.
Glaze: Clear glossy glaze. Opaque white around rim, dripping down one side.
Footrim and base glazed.
Mark: Inner edge of footrim: "Asahi."
Decoration: vertical slashes on walls, cutting through pronounced throwing marks.

Marking(s)

Inner edge of foot rim: "Asahi"

Published References
  • Impressions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America. no. 39 Lexington, Massachusetts, 2018. p. 138, fig. 8.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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