Powdered tea container with design of phoenix and clouds

Clay: earthenware; dense, buff-gray.
Glaze: lead glaze: yellow, crackled in brown.
Decoration: in green, black and red enamels under glaze.
Signature: Kensai.

Maker(s)
Artist: Kensai (1793-1861)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, mid-19th century
Medium
Brown clay; white slip, enamels, and iron pigment under transparent lead glaze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 8.1 × 6.2 cm (3 3/16 × 2 7/16 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1901.75a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea caddy (chaire)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, tea
Provenance

To 1901
Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), Paris to 1901 [1]

From 1901 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Siegfried Bing, Paris in 1901

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 954, 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) and Custodian(s)

Siegfried Bing (C.L. Freer source) 1838-1905
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Clay: earthenware; dense, buff-gray.
Glaze: lead glaze: yellow, crackled in brown.
Decoration: in green, black and red enamels under glaze.
Signature: Kensai.

Label

Shape, size, and the type of cover suggest the use of this vessel as a tea container (chaki). This is basically a relaxed version of the hieratically conceived tea caddy (chaire), which is employed in more formal tea service. The phoenix (ho-o) is traditionally seen as an emblem of female rule, ruler of the birds, harbinger of peace, prosperity, and sage rule, and sign of the southern quadrant of heaven. In Chinese popular culture the phoenix was depicted on wedding gifts and trousseaux, for the bride was an "empress for a day." This auspicious grammar came to be embodied in Japanese themes as well.

Published References
  • Richard L. Wilson. The Potter's Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics. Exh. cat. Washington. cat. 30, p. 105.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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