Ritual water sprinkler (kundika)

Object Details

• Description

  Water ewer (kundika): globular body on spreading foot; tall slender neck, wide collar and small spout.

  Clay: hard off-white stoneware.

  Glaze: transparent straw-colored, finely crackled, stained.

• Provenance

  To 1909

  Yung Pao Chai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yung Pao Chai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2018, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pg. 18, Yung Pao Chai may have been Yongbaozhai, a shop established in the antique district of Liulichang in 1884.

  [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

  Guardians of the Law: Chinese Luohan Painting (December 1, 2003 to May 23, 2004)

  Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires (May 9, 1993 to January 28, 2007)

  Chinese Painting and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to March 22, 1943)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yung Pao Chai (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• 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.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  800s, 700s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Chai, Yung Pao

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Water, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Tang dynasty (618 - 907), Ceramics

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)