Bottle with decoration of clouds and phoenixes

Vase: ovoidal form, short neck and projecting lip.
Clay: hard, dense, grayish.
Glaze: lustrous black with purple reflections; light grayish-brown splash.
Decoration: faint traces of a cloud and phoenix design over glaze.

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Historical period(s)
Yuan dynasty, 13th century
Medium
Stoneware with dark glaze and traces of gold pigment
Style
Jizhou ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 26.4 Ɨ 15.5 cm (10 3/8 Ɨ 6 1/8 in)
Geography
China, Jiangxi province
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1905.273
On View Location
Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
China, cloud, Jizhou ware, phoenix, stoneware, Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368)
Provenance

To 1905
Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1905 [1]

From 1905 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1905 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1425, 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
Bunkio Matsuki (C.L. Freer source) 1867-1940

Description

Vase: ovoidal form, short neck and projecting lip.
Clay: hard, dense, grayish.
Glaze: lustrous black with purple reflections; light grayish-brown splash.
Decoration: faint traces of a cloud and phoenix design over glaze.

Published References
  • Robert L. Hobson, Edward S. Morse, Rose Sickler Williams. Chinese, Corean, and Japanese Potteries: Descriptive Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat. New York, March 2-21, 1914. cat. 328.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
The Story of the Beautiful
Google Cultural Institute
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