Tomb jar

Ch’ingpai type. Funeral vase: tall, slender, on hollowed, spreading feet. Wood stand.
Clay: soft, light-weight, gray-white.
Glaze: thin, transparent green celadon; close brown crackle. Areas of stain and of over-baked wrinkled glaze.
Decoration: hieratic figures and a dragon supporting the sun-disk – in applied relief, under glaze.

Historical period(s)
Southern Song or Yuan dynasty, 13th century
Medium
Porcelain with transparent pale-blue (qingbai) glaze
Style
Qingbai ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 71.9 × 18.8 cm (28 5/16 × 7 3/8 in)
Geography
China, Jiangxi province
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.235a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tomb jar

Keywords
China, dragon, funerary, porcelain, Qingbai ware, Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368)
Provenance

To 1903
Yamanaka & Company, to 1903 [1]

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1903 [2]

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

Notes:
[1] Undated folder sheet note. Also see Original Pottery List, L. 1268, 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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

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

Description

Ch'ingpai type. Funeral vase: tall, slender, on hollowed, spreading feet. Wood stand.
Clay: soft, light-weight, gray-white.
Glaze: thin, transparent green celadon; close brown crackle. Areas of stain and of over-baked wrinkled glaze.
Decoration: hieratic figures and a dragon supporting the sun-disk - in applied relief, under glaze.

Inscription(s)

1. (T. Lawton, 1973) The following information was carved on the box in which this object arrived. Inscription on front of base: ku fo she li t'a [CHN].
Inscription on back of base: Tao-kuang chia-ch'en Yuan-ch'un ta hsing liu chuang yen kung-yang [CHN] (1844).

Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
The Story of the Beautiful
Google Cultural Institute
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