Tea-leaf storage jar with four lugs

Dark gray clay, partially brown on surface. Concentrically trimmed base. Four lugs spaced equally around shoulder just below neck.
Warm brown iron glaze, broadly splashed with ash glaze on neck, shoulder, and body. Inside unglazed.
Illegible mark written in ink on base.

Historical period(s): Momoyama period, 1590-1600

Medium: Stoneware with iron and wood-ash glazes

Style: Seto ware

Dimensions: H x Diam: 25 x 23.3 cm (9 13/16 x 9 3/16 in)

Geography: Japan, Aichi prefecture, Seto, Seto kilns

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Accession Number: F1904.25

On View Location: Currently not on view

Classification(s): Ceramic, Vessel

Type: Tea-leaf storage jar (chatsubo)

Keywords: brown and black glaze, Japan, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Seto ware, stoneware, tea

Provenance

To 1904
V. G. Fischer Art Company, Washington, DC, to 1904 [1]

From 1904 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from V. G. Fischer Art Company, Washington DC in 1904 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1287, 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): V. G. Fischer Art Company (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer 1854 - 1919

Description: Dark gray clay, partially brown on surface. Concentrically trimmed base. Four lugs spaced equally around shoulder just below neck.
Warm brown iron glaze, broadly splashed with ash glaze on neck, shoulder, and body. Inside unglazed.
Illegible mark written in ink on base.

Marking(s): Illegible mark written in ink on base.

Label: Potters making tea-ceremony utensils at the Seto kilns used iron-brown glazes inspired by Chinese tea jars and tea bowls. In the late sixteenth century, Seto potters introduced dynamic variation in the dark color by pouring ash glaze over the brown glaze. During firing, the layered glazes ran in irregular patterns. A jar identical to this one, in a Japanese collection, bears an incised date corresponding to 1596.

Published References