Bowl in style of Chinese porcelain

Bowl, shallow with low, notched foot. Lacquer repair on foot.
Clay: hard gray stoneware, stony inclusions.
Glaze: high-fired, glossy, crackled.
Decoration: sketchy flowers and section of a pagoda in underglaze blue.
Inscription: Nan-ki Otokoyama 南紀男山 on one side just above foot.

Historical period(s)
Edo period or Meiji era, ca. 1827-1879
Medium
Stoneware with cobalt pigment under clear glaze
Style
Otokoyama ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 5.6 × 13.6 cm (2 3/16 × 5 3/8 in)
Geography
Japan, Wakayama prefecture, Arita-gun, Hirokawa-cho
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1906.31
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, Otokoyama ware, pavilion, stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1906
Yamanaka & Company, to 1906 [1]

From 1906 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by Yamanaka & Company in 1906 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 529, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.

[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)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Yamanaka and Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1917-1965

Description

Bowl, shallow with low, notched foot. Lacquer repair on foot.
Clay: hard gray stoneware, stony inclusions.
Glaze: high-fired, glossy, crackled.
Decoration: sketchy flowers and section of a pagoda in underglaze blue.
Inscription: Nan-ki Otokoyama 南紀男山 on one side just above foot.

Inscription(s)

Nan-ki Otokoyama 南紀男山 on one side just above foot.

Label

The main output of the Otokoyama kiln, which opened in 1827 within the Kii domain in Wakayama prefecture, was commercial porcelain intended to compete for the market dominated by porcelain from the Arita kilns. Pieces marked with the kiln name, in contrast, were intended for official use by the domain rulers. The "cloud pavilion" motif on this bowl echoes designs on sixteenth-century Chinese porcelain. Firing imperfections suggest that the bowl may have been made in the last years of the kiln's operation, after the Kii Tokugawa house relinquished control to private entrepreneurs.

Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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