Tomb jar

Funeral vase: tall, slender, with conical neck and bulging mouth.
Clay: hard, dense, whitish.
Glaze: brilliant bluish-gray; irregular brown crackle.
Decoration: figures (some broken), dragon, etc.,in applied relief under glaze. One of a pair, F1906.251.

Historical period(s)
Southern Song dynasty, 13th century
Medium
Porcelain with transparent pale-blue (qingbai) glaze
Style
Qingbai ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 48.4 × 16.5 cm (19 1/16 × 6 1/2 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1906.252
On View Location
Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tomb jar

Keywords
China, funerary, Qingbai ware, Song dynasty (960 - 1279), Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), tomb
Provenance

To 1906
Yamanaka & Company, to 1906 [1]

From 1906 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1906 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1479, 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

Funeral vase: tall, slender, with conical neck and bulging mouth.
Clay: hard, dense, whitish.
Glaze: brilliant bluish-gray; irregular brown crackle.
Decoration: figures (some broken), dragon, etc.,in applied relief under glaze. One of a pair, F1906.251.

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