Tea ceremony water jar, Takatori or Karatsu ware

Water jar for the tea ceremony (mizusashi): ovoidal; wide mouth and flat, slightly hollowed base. Lacquer cover. Lacquer repairs on rim.
Clay: hard, grayish.
Glaze: lustrous dark yellow-brown with dripping overflow of (rice-straw-ash) blue; pool of blue and cream (rice-straw-ash glaze) inside.
Decoration: wave-motive impressed in paste under glaze, on the inside (marks of anvil with incised pattern of concentric circles).

Historical period(s)
Momoyama period, 1598-1610
Medium
Stoneware with rice-straw-ash glaze; lacquered wooden lid
Style
Takatori or Agano ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 15.2 × 17.1 cm (6 × 6 3/4 in)
Geography
Japan, Fukuoka prefecture
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1899.62a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea ceremony water jar (mizusashi)

Keywords
Japan, Karatsu ware, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), stoneware, Takatori ware, tea, water
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. 170, 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

Water jar for the tea ceremony (mizusashi): ovoidal; wide mouth and flat, slightly hollowed base. Lacquer cover. Lacquer repairs on rim.
Clay: hard, grayish.
Glaze: lustrous dark yellow-brown with dripping overflow of (rice-straw-ash) blue; pool of blue and cream (rice-straw-ash glaze) inside.
Decoration: wave-motive impressed in paste under glaze, on the inside (marks of anvil with incised pattern of concentric circles).

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