Pentagonal incense box in Oribe style

Fine-grained, reddish brown clay.
Underglaze painted decoration in white slip and black iron pigment.
Clear glaze, milky where thick; copper-green ash glaze on knob. Inside glazed; recessed base unglazed.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1800-1868
Medium
Stoneware with white slip and iron pigment under clear glaze, and copper-green glaze
Style
Seto ware, Revival Oribe type
Dimensions
H x Diam: 5.1 × 5.8 cm (2 × 2 5/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Aichi prefecture, Seto, Akazu village, Seto kilns
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1902.64a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Container
Type

Incense box (kogo)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), incense, Japan, Seto ware, stoneware
Provenance

To 1902
Samuel Colman (1832-1920), New York, NY, and Newport, RI, to 1902 [1]

From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased at the sale of the Samuel Colman Collection, American Art Association, New York, March 19-22, 1902 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1130, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Samuel Colman was collecting Asian objects by at least 1880 (see Curatorial Remark 10, Louise Cort, April 20, 2007, in the object record).

[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)

Samuel Colman 1832-1920
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
American Art Association (C.L. Freer source) established 1883

Description

Fine-grained, reddish brown clay.
Underglaze painted decoration in white slip and black iron pigment.
Clear glaze, milky where thick; copper-green ash glaze on knob. Inside glazed; recessed base unglazed.

Published References
  • Seizō Hayashiya. Idemitsu Bijutsukan no chatÿ., 106. Tokyo, February 1999. p. 40, fig. 16.
  • Louise Allison Cort. Seto and Mino Ceramics. Washington and Honolulu, 1992. cat. 64, p. 202.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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