Small tea jar for commercial use

Clay: light, hard, white. Lip chipped.
Glaze: clear, colorless glaze appearing golden brown, iridescent, broken through by thick studding of globules of feldspar from clay body. Interior unglazed.

Historical period(s)
Meiji era, late 19th century
Medium
Stoneware with clear glaze
Style
Shigaraki ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 9 × 8.2 cm (3 9/16 × 3 1/4 in)
Geography
Japan, Shiga prefecture, Shigaraki
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.205
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea-leaf jar

Keywords
iridescence, Japan, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Shigaraki ware, stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1903
Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), Paris, to 1903 [2]

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Siegfried Bing, Paris, in 1903 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1244, 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)

Siegfried Bing (C.L. Freer source) 1838-1905
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Description

Clay: light, hard, white. Lip chipped.
Glaze: clear, colorless glaze appearing golden brown, iridescent, broken through by thick studding of globules of feldspar from clay body. Interior unglazed.

Label

This compact jar probably held whole-leaf green tea offered for sale in a shop in the tea-growing town of Uji.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort. Shigaraki Potters' Valley., 1st ed. New York and Tokyo. pl. 191.
  • Cyril Stanley Smith. Metallurgical Footnotes to the History of Art. vol. 116, no. 2 Philadelphia. pp. 97-135.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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