Mino ware tea bowl with design of gate and seedling pines
Object Details
- Description
- Buff clay. Hand-carved foot. Decoration of X-shaped gate and pine seedlings painted with underglaze iron slip; irregular poured shaped of iron slip. Thin feldspathic glaze applied by uneven ladling over walls and base, with portions of decorated surface left unglazed. Gold lacquer repairs.
- Label
- This wide cylindrical shape resting on a low foot is typical of Mino ware tea bowls of the Momoyama period executed in the style known as Shino. In form and decoration, the bowl exemplifies contrasting qualities that were prized in tea bowls: symmetry and irregularity, intention and accident. The potter distorted the wheel-thrown shape by incising grooves. To decorate the bowl, he ladled iron pigment over the surface to create a random pattern, then filled in the spaces with painted motifs of pine seedlings and a bamboo gate.
- Provenance
- To 1902
- Yamanaka & Company, to 1902 [1]
- From 1902 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1902 [2]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
- Notes:
- [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1206, 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.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Imperfectly Beautiful: Inventing Japanese Ceramic Style (October 14, 2017 - October 14, 2019)
- The Arts of Japan (July 14, 2012 to January 13, 2013)
- Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)
- Tea Bowls in Bloom: Botanical Decoration on Tea Ceremony Ceramics (February 3 to July 15, 2007)
- Freer: A Taste for Japanese Art (July 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007)
- Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics (May 3 to September 7, 2003)
- Japanese Ceramics from Seto and Mino (January 19, 1996 to August 5, 2001)
- Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to November 21, 1995)
- Japanese Art (November 7, 1986 to July 19, 1988)
- The Glazed Ceramic Tradition of Mino and Seto Wares (April 26, 1985 to January 13, 1986)
- Japanese Ceramics (June 22, 1982 to September 27, 1982)
- Japanese Ceramics (July 15, 1980 to June 21, 1982)
- Japanese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to January 17, 1980)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Date
- 1594-1607
- Period
- Momoyama period
- Accession Number
- F1902.234
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Vessel
- Medium
- Stoneware with iron pigment poured and painted under feldspathic glaze; gold lacquer repairs
- Dimensions
- H x Diam: 9 x 14.5 cm (3 9/16 x 5 11/16 in)
- Style
- Mino ware, Gray Shino type
- Origin
- Motoyashiki Higashi kilns, Toki city, Gifu prefecture, Japan
- Related Online Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Topic
- lacquer
- ceramic
- pine tree
- Mino ware, Shino type
- Momoyama period (1573 - 1615)
- tea
- gate
- Japan
- stoneware
- Japanese Art
- lacquer repair
- Charles Lang Freer collection
- Record ID
- fsg_F1902.234
