Tea caddy with landscape decoration

Tea caddy with landscape decoration. Ivory cover.
Clay: dense, hard, gray-white. String-cut base.
Glaze: cream, with transparent overflow of pale yellow; crackled. Interior unglazed.
Decoration: in cobalt under glaze; incised lines around shoulder.

A throwing crack, visible on the interior, was repaired by wiping the base, distorting the traces of the string-cutting mark on the base.

Historical period(s)
Edo period or Meiji era, mid-19th century
Medium
Stoneware with cobalt decoration under clear, colorless glaze; ivory lid
Style
Satsuma ware, White Satsuma type
Dimensions
H x Diam: 9 × 7.1 cm (3 9/16 × 2 13/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Kagoshima prefecture, Kagoshima, Iso kiln or Sengan kiln
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1900.86a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea caddy (chaire)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, landscape, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Satsuma ware, White Satsuma type, stoneware, tea
Provenance

Ikeda Seisuke (1839-1900), Kyoto [1]

To 1900
Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1900 [2]

From 1900 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1900 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See Original Pottery List, L. 800, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[3] See note 2.

[4] 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)

Ikeda Seisuke 1839-1900
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Bunkio Matsuki (C.L. Freer source) 1867-1940

Description

Tea caddy with landscape decoration. Ivory cover.
Clay: dense, hard, gray-white. String-cut base.
Glaze: cream, with transparent overflow of pale yellow; crackled. Interior unglazed.
Decoration: in cobalt under glaze; incised lines around shoulder.

A throwing crack, visible on the interior, was repaired by wiping the base, distorting the traces of the string-cutting mark on the base.

Label

From the early seventeenth century, potters in Satsuma province (modern Kagoshima prefecture) made fine white stoneware ceramics for warrior rulers of the province to use in entertaining and for obligatory gift exchanges. The warriors also commissioned a locally based artist named Tangen, who had trained in a Kano workshop in Edo, to paint delicate landscape designs on the white ceramics, using cobalt blue pigment. This decoration, which conveyed the subtle tonalities of ink paintings, became a trademark of Satsuma ceramics.

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