Tea ceremony water jar with matching lid

Tea-ceremony water jar (mizusashi), quadrilateral; two loop handles. Pottery cover.
Clay: hard, light gray. String-cut base.
Glaze: clear with green tints, crackled.
Decoration: modeled running-water lines in paste; painted brown, and blue, under glaze; reeds and water.

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Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1800-1868
Medium
Stoneware with iron and cobalt pigments under translucent glaze
Style
Seto ware, Ofuke type
Dimensions
H x W: 20.3 x 14.4 cm (8 x 5 11/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Aichi prefecture, Seto
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.278a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea ceremony water jar (tomobuta mizusashi)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, Seto ware, Ofuke type, stoneware, tea, water
Provenance

Mr. Funahashi, Kyoto [1]

To 1903
Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1903 [2]

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1903 [3]

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

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remarks, Louise A. Cort, 1986: Freer acquired, through Matsuki, five pieces from the Funahashi collection (F1903.275--F1903.279). An undated "List of Shipment" from Matsuki (Matsuki letter no. 30) gives the following: "Following five important pottery are from the sale of Late Mr. Funahashi of Kioto famous wholesale silk dealer for many generation. The sale was under the management of Mr. Shinsuke Hayashi from whom your great Sotatsu screen came."

[2] See Original Pottery List, L. 1278, 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)

Funahashi
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Bunkio Matsuki (C.L. Freer source) 1867-1940

Description

Tea-ceremony water jar (mizusashi), quadrilateral; two loop handles. Pottery cover.
Clay: hard, light gray. String-cut base.
Glaze: clear with green tints, crackled.
Decoration: modeled running-water lines in paste; painted brown, and blue, under glaze; reeds and water.

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