Tea-leaf storage jar with four lugs

Object Details

• 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.

• Marks

  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.

• 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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Rusticity Refined: Kyoto Ceramics by Ninsei (March 19 to October 23, 2005)

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to November 21, 1995)

  The Glazed Ceramic Tradition of Mino and Seto Wares (April 26, 1985 to January 13, 1986)

  Japanese Ceramics from Past to Present (February 18, 1983 to February 16, 1984)

• Previous custodian or owner

  V. G. Fischer Art Company (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Seto kilns, Seto, Aichi prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1590s, 1600s

• Name

  V. G. Fischer Art Company, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Aichi prefecture, Japan, Seto, Seto kilns

• Topic

  Tea, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Stoneware, Japanese Art, Brown and black glaze, Ceramics, Seto ware

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)