Tea bowl with slip-inlaid decoration

Tea bowl, irregular shape, heavy foot, lacquer repairs.
Clay: coarse stoneware, fired blackish brown.
Glaze: thick greenish gray, mottled with brown outside. Foot and footrim glazed.
Decoration: in slip under glaze, inside only. Stamped and combed motifs.
Spurs: four large refractory-clay spurs on footrim.

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Historical period(s)
Joseon period, first half of 17th century
Medium
Stoneware with white inlay under translucent glaze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 7.9 Ɨ 16.5 cm (3 1/8 Ɨ 6 1/2 in)
Geography
Korea, Gyeongsangnam-do province
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1904.113
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl

Keywords
clear glaze, Joseon period (1392 - 1910), Korea, stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1904
Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, to 1904 [1]

From 1904 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, in 1904 [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. 1291, 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

Tea bowl, irregular shape, heavy foot, lacquer repairs.
Clay: coarse stoneware, fired blackish brown.
Glaze: thick greenish gray, mottled with brown outside. Foot and footrim glazed.
Decoration: in slip under glaze, inside only. Stamped and combed motifs.
Spurs: four large refractory-clay spurs on footrim.

Label

This bowl incorporates features of earlier tableware bowls made in Korea, but its size and shape suggest that it was made at a southeastern Korean kiln for export to Japan for use as a tea bowl.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort. Korean Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art. .
  • Nezu Museum. Kanzo chawan hyakkasen. Exh. cat. Tokyo, October 10 - November 24, 1985. cat. 19.
  • Korean Art in the Freer and Sackler Galleries. Washington. no. 4.15, p. 51.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Korean Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art
Google Cultural Institute
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