Tea bowl, possibly Rakuzan ware

Tea bowl. Five spur marks inside. Gold lacquer repairs.
Clay: light, dense, gray-white. Dark brown where exposed.
Glaze: cream-white and warm cream-yellow; fissured, pitted, and chipped. Interior of footrim glazed. Five firing scars in bottom.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 18th-mid 19th century
Medium
Stoneware with wood-ash glaze
Style
Possibly Rakuzan ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 7.4 × 16.9 cm (2 15/16 × 6 5/8 in)
Geography
Japan, Shimane prefecture, Matsue, possibly Rakuzan kiln
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1897.89a-c
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), haiku, Japan, Rakuzan ware, stoneware, tea
Provenance

Prince of Kaga Collection, Kanazawa, Japan [1]

To 1897
Yamanaka & Company, New York to 1897 [2]

From 1897 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1897 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] This is one of ten tea bowls (F1897.81 - F1897.90) acquired as a group from the former collection of the "Prince of Kaga." presumably the last head of the Maeda house, the daimyo family that had served as feudal lords of Kaga Province (now part of Ishikawa prefecture, centering around the castle town of Kanazawa) since the beginning of the 17th century (see Curatorial Remark 10, Louise Cort, September 1982, in the object record).

[2] See Original Pottery List, L. 691, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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) and Custodian(s)

Maeda daimyo of Kaga
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Yamanaka and Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1917 - 1965

Description

Tea bowl. Five spur marks inside. Gold lacquer repairs.
Clay: light, dense, gray-white. Dark brown where exposed.
Glaze: cream-white and warm cream-yellow; fissured, pitted, and chipped. Interior of footrim glazed. Five firing scars in bottom.

Inscription(s)

1. (Yu-Ra Jung, 19 February 2004) See inscribed labels kept in object file. Also see photographs of inscribed box in object file.

Label

This tea bowl was made at a Japanese kiln following conventions of Korean tea bowls, including five spurs marks in the bottom, but the exact place of its production has not yet been determined. One possibility is the Rakuzan kiln, which operated on a small scale in the castle town of Matsue and specialized in tea wares.

Published References
  • , no. 39 Lexington, Massachusetts, 2018. p. 143, fig. 14.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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