Bowl with design of pine trees

Bowl; round with smooth surface and finely cut thin foot; signed Kenzan. Box.
Clay: fairly fine grained brownish buff stoneware.
Glaze: clear, finely crackled.
Decoration: pine trees with blue needles on ground of white slip, on one side inside, and on the other outside.

Maker(s)
Artist: Style of Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) Kyoto workshop, Kenzan style
Historical period(s)
Edo period, mid-19th century
Medium
Buff clay; white slip, iron and cobalt pigments under transparent glaze
Dimensions
H x W: 6.6 x 13.3 cm (2 5/8 x 5 1/4 in)
Geography
Japan, Kyoto prefecture, Kyoto
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1961.28a-i
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl (futajawan), missing lid

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, pine tree
Provenance

To 1961
Howard Hollis and Company, Cleveland, Ohio. [1]

From 1961
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Howard Hollis and Company, Cleveland, Ohio. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Howard Hollis and Company

Description

Bowl; round with smooth surface and finely cut thin foot; signed Kenzan. Box.
Clay: fairly fine grained brownish buff stoneware.
Glaze: clear, finely crackled.
Decoration: pine trees with blue needles on ground of white slip, on one side inside, and on the other outside.

Marking(s)

Kenzan

Label

The earliest ceramics made by the Kyoto potter Ogata Kenzan are finely wrought works that echo the shapes and colors of contemporaneous luxury goods, including lacquer and albums of poetry illustrated with Japanese-style painting. Later in his career, Kenzan developed simplified versions of decoration that could be reproduced quickly and in quantity, responding to their immense popularity. As seen in the landscape with a pine grove on this bowl, the abbreviated “Kenzan style” of decoration became a staple of Kyoto ceramic workshops. The bowl originally had a matching lid and was one of a set of bowls used for serving steamed food.

Published References
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 199.
  • Richard L. Wilson. The Potter's Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceramics. Exh. cat. Washington. cat. 69, p. 153.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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