Jizhou ware tea bowl

Tea bowl: small flaring on low basal ring; gold rim. Lacquer stand.
Clay: dense, buff.
Glaze: dark mahogany red; splashed with blue and grayish-yellow, inside.
Decoration: inside; blossom forms painted in brown-black.

Historical period(s)
Southern Song dynasty, 12th-early 13th century
Medium
Stoneware with iron and ash glazes; metal rim
Style
Jizhou ware
Dimensions
H x W: 5.5 x 11.7 cm (2 3/16 x 4 5/8 in)
Geography
China, Jiangxi province, Jizhou kilns
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1913.38
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl

Keywords
brown and black glaze, China, Jizhou ware, Song dynasty (960 - 1279), Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), stoneware, tea
Provenance

To 1913
Yamanaka & Company, New York to 1913 [1]

From 1913 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company, New York in 1913 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 2374, Freer Galley 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
Yamanaka and Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1917-1965

Description

Tea bowl: small flaring on low basal ring; gold rim. Lacquer stand.
Clay: dense, buff.
Glaze: dark mahogany red; splashed with blue and grayish-yellow, inside.
Decoration: inside; blossom forms painted in brown-black.

Label

Japanese documents of the fifteenth century describe Jizhou tea bowls as "tortoise shell" because of the mottled texture of their glaze. This bowl combines the temmoku shape with pictorial decoration. Plum-blossom shapes cut from paper were stuck to the dark brown glaze while it was still damp; the second coating of glaze in a lighter color registered their silhouettes

Published References
  • Sigisbert Chrétien Bosch Reitz. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Early Chinese Pottery and Sculpture. Exh. cat. New York. fig. 250.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 72.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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