Karatsu ware tea-leaf storage jar with five loop lugs

Jar, ovoidal with high conical neck, flanged lip, five loop handles on shoulder.
Clay: coarse dark brown stoneware.
Glaze: robin’s egg green with blue flecks and blotches two-thirds of the way down, clear below and on foot, fine crackle.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1630-1660
Medium
Stoneware with copper-tinted rice-straw-ash glaze and feldspathic glaze
Style
Karatsu ware, Takeo Karatsu type
Dimensions
H x Diam: 25.4 x 21.4 cm (10 x 8 7/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Saga prefecture, Takeo, Kotaji, Shirokibaru no. 2 kiln
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1899.60
On View Location
Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Jar

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, Karatsu ware, Takeo Karatsu type, stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1899
Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, to 1899 [1]

From 1899 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1899 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 24, 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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

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

Description

Jar, ovoidal with high conical neck, flanged lip, five loop handles on shoulder.
Clay: coarse dark brown stoneware.
Glaze: robin's egg green with blue flecks and blotches two-thirds of the way down, clear below and on foot, fine crackle.

Published References
  • Sekai toji zenshu [Catalogue of the World's Ceramics]. 19 vols., Tokyo, 1976-1982. vol. 19: pp. 245-46, nos. 7-14.
  • Louise Allison Cort. A Chinese Green Jar in Japan: Source of a New Color Aesthetic in the Momoyama Period. no. 30, 2009. fig. 3.
  • G. St. G.M. Gompertz. Korean Pottery and Porcelain of the Yi Period. London and New York. pp. 71-72.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
The Story of the Beautiful
Google Cultural Institute
SI Usage Statement

Usage Conditions Apply

There are restrictions for re-using this image. 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 Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Request Permission | Terms of Use