Bulb bowl

Bulb bowl; three stump feet.
Clay: hard, dense, resonant. Light orange-brown.
Glaze: greenish-gray, splashed and speckled with ruby-red; inside, unglazed. Misfired copper-red glaze over white slip. Splashes of white slip on unglazed interior surface.

Historical period(s)
Qing dynasty, 18th-19th century
Medium
Stoneware with white slip under misfired copper-red glaze
Dimensions
H x Diam: 9.6 × 19.9 cm (3 3/4 × 7 13/16 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1909.298
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
China, plant, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), stoneware
Provenance

To 1909
Peter Johannes Bahr (died circa 1928), Shanghai, China, or Abel William Bahr (1877-1959), Shanghai, China. [1]

From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Peter Johannes Bahr or Abel William Bahr, in Shanghai, in 1909. [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2013, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Peter J. Bahr (died circa 1928) and Abel William Bahr (1877-1959) were brothers born in Shanghai. Peter J. Bahr remained in Shanghai. Abel William Bahr left Shanghai in 1910, and lived, at various points in time, in London, Montreal, and Ridgefield, Connecticut. He established a gallery in New York City in 1920.

[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
Abel William Bahr (C.L. Freer source) 1877-1959
Peter Johannes Bahr (C.L. Freer source) 1882-1929

Description

Bulb bowl; three stump feet.
Clay: hard, dense, resonant. Light orange-brown.
Glaze: greenish-gray, splashed and speckled with ruby-red; inside, unglazed. Misfired copper-red glaze over white slip. Splashes of white slip on unglazed interior surface.

Published References
  • Abel William Bahr, F. E. Wilkinson. Old Chinese Porcelain and Works of Art in China: Being Description and Illustrations of Articles Selected from an Exhibition held in Shanghai, November, 1908. Exh. cat. London, November 1908. pl. 12.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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