Sake bottle

Dense, dark gray clay, covered with iron wash now mostly worn off. Concentrically trimmed base. Potter’s mark, “Kagemasa-o,” without frame, impressed on base. Glossy blue-black iron glaze; splashes of white rice-straw ash (unofu) glaze on shoulder, running down and mingling with iron glaze, producing color ranging from mottled cream to diffuse blue. Rim and pouring spout repaired with brown lacquer.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1800-1850
Medium
Stoneware with iron and rice-straw-ash glazes; lacquer repair
Style
Seto ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 20.6 × 11.4 cm (8 1/8 × 4 1/2 in)
Geography
Japan, Aichi prefecture, Seto, Seto village, Yuemon kiln
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1905.40
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Sake bottle (tokkuri)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), gourd, Japan, lacquer repair, sake, Seto ware, stoneware, wine
Provenance

To 1905
Thomas E. Waggaman (1839-1906), Washington, DC, to 1905 [1]

From 1905 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased at the sale of the Waggaman Collection, American Art Association, New York, NY, January 25-February 3, 1905 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1353, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Also see Curatorial Remark 17, Louise Cort, June 17, 2008, in the object record.

[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)

Thomas E. Waggaman 1839-1906
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
American Art Association (C.L. Freer source) established 1883

Description

Dense, dark gray clay, covered with iron wash now mostly worn off. Concentrically trimmed base. Potter's mark, "Kagemasa-o," without frame, impressed on base. Glossy blue-black iron glaze; splashes of white rice-straw ash (unofu) glaze on shoulder, running down and mingling with iron glaze, producing color ranging from mottled cream to diffuse blue. Rim and pouring spout repaired with brown lacquer.

Marking(s)

Potter's mark,"Kagemasa-o," without frame, impressed on base.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort. Seto and Mino Ceramics. Washington and Honolulu, 1992. cat. 100, p. 188.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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