Fragment of an underglaze cobalt-blue-painted wall tile

Object Details

• Description

  Shape: Mold-formed, hollow wall-tile fragment, probably architectural.

  Clay: The body is a very fine clay, light buff in color, having many small and several large air pockets. There are very few inclusions.

  Glaze: The body is covered with a crackled glaze over the cobalt-blue painted decoration. It is not clear whether there is a slip below the cobalt painting or whether the milky white background color is imparted by the glaze itself. The bubbly, translucent glaze covers the sides and top of the tile.

  Decoration: Underglaze cobalt-blue painting of good quality. The design consists of geometric borders conforming to the physical shape of the tile. These enclose freely painted vegetal decoration, only small remnants of which remain.

  Marks: None.

• Provenance

  To 1957

  Abu Ridho, Jakarta, Indonesia. [1]

  1957

  John A. Pope (1906-1982), Washington DC, gift of Abu Ridho, Jakarta, Indonesia. [2]

  From 1957

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of John A. Pope, Washington DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remarks 1 and 2 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1. See also object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Abu Ridho (born 1927)

  Dr. John Alexander Pope (1906-1982)

• Origin

  Red River Delta kilns, Hai Duong province, Vietnam

• Credit Line

  Gift of John A. Pope

• Type

  Architectural Element

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1400s

• Name

  Pope, John Alexander, Ridho, Abu

• Place

  Hai Duong province, Vietnam, Red River Delta kilns

• Topic

  Art, Later Le dynasty (1428 - 1527), Stoneware, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Architectural elements