Tea ceremony water jar, Takatori ware

Object Details

• Description

  Water-jar (mizusashi), diamond shaped. Black lacquer cover.

  Clay: dense, hard, grayish. Brown on exposed surface.

  Glaze: yellow-brown with broad overflow of brilliant red-brown, iridescent; glaze partially wiped off base.

• Label

  The potter who made this jar pressed a wheel-thrown cylinder into a diamond shape and wiped away portions of the glaze to reduce its glossiness. The jar's serene shape and amber-toned glaze are typical of tea ceramics made at the Shirahatayama kiln. Its wares are thought to reflect the taste and guidance of the tea master Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), whose preference for classic forms and quiet glazes had a far-reaching impact on Japanese ceramics in the 1630s and 1640s.

• Provenance

  To 1900

  Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, to 1900 [1]

  From 1900 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1900 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 840, 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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Cornucopia: Ceramics of Southern Japan (December 19, 2009 to January 9, 2011)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Shirahatayama kiln, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Fukuoka prefecture, Shirahatayama kiln, Japan

• Topic

  Water, Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Takatori ware, Art, Stoneware, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Brown and black glaze, Iridescence, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)