Bottle

Hexagonal vase or sake bottle with small flaring mouth.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: Dark coffee brown around bottom with white running unevenly down from the top.
Decoration: On white glaze at the shoulder and upper part, two hawks and branches of chestnut trees in colored enamels and gilding.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1730-1750
Medium
Porcelain with enamels over clear glaze, iron glaze
Style
Arita ware
Dimensions
H x W: 22.4 x 12.7 cm (8 13/16 x 5 in)
Geography
Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita, Higuchi kiln, Nangawara
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1965.18
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
Arita ware, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, porcelain, sake, wine
Provenance

To 1965
Setsu Gatodo, Tokyo, Japan. [1]

From 1965
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Setsu Gatodo, Tokyo, Japan. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Setsu Gatodo

Description

Hexagonal vase or sake bottle with small flaring mouth.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: Dark coffee brown around bottom with white running unevenly down from the top.
Decoration: On white glaze at the shoulder and upper part, two hawks and branches of chestnut trees in colored enamels and gilding.

Label

An undulating line divides the brown-glazed and white surfaces of this body in the same manner that contemporary kimono designs separated the garment's surfaces into areas of differing colors.  For a kimono, the design of two hawks in a chestnut tree would have been hand-painted or embroidered; here, it is rendered with colored enamels and gilding.  In the language of Japanese design, both chestnuts and hawks connote masculine bravery.  This Imari-style bottle was probably designed for the domestic market.

Published References
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 173.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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