Box

Maker(s)
Artist: Style of Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, 18th century
Medium
Wood, mineral pigment, and gesso
Dimensions
H x W x D: 36.5 x 26.7 x 10.9 cm (14 3/8 x 10 1/2 x 4 5/16 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1907.104a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Container
Type

Box

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), flower, Japan
Provenance

To 1907
Unidentified owner, Japan, to 1907 [1]

From 1907 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased in Japan from an unidentified owner in 1907 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 40, pg. 25, 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

Label

The pleasing visual contrast achieved by applying pigment-based designs and drawings to an unadorned natural surface--silk, paper, clay, or wood--expresses an important aspect of Japanese aesthetic sensibility: the celebration of art's material foundations.

Ironically, at the precise moment when Ogata Kenzan and like-minded artists were constructing simple and direct forms with apparent materials, Ogawa Ritsuo (1663-1747) was manipulating lacquer boxes into the appearance of weathered wood. From the eighteenth century onward these different approaches of simplicity and ingenious artifice would mark the production of Japanese art and craft.

Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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