Kutani style dish, Arita ware

Clay: white porcelain
Glaze: milky white, thick, uneven
Decoration: overglaze enamels; “tortoise shell” on rim with each scale framing an auspicious object; bird in landscape in octagonal frame in center; floral scrolls outside.
Mark: in center of base, square, black pigment under green enamel, not read.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1644-1650
Medium
Porcelain with cobalt pigment under transparent glaze and enamels over glaze
Style
Arita ware, Kutani type
Dimensions
H x W x D: 11.5 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm (4 1/2 x 18 x 18 in)
Geography
Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita, Yambeta kiln group
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1967.15
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Dish

Keywords
Arita ware, Kutani type, bird, Edo period (1615 - 1868), flower, Japan, landscape, porcelain
Provenance

To 1967
Mayuyama & Co., Ltd.., Tokyo, Japan. [1]

From 1967
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd.

Description

Clay: white porcelain
Glaze: milky white, thick, uneven
Decoration: overglaze enamels; "tortoise shell" on rim with each scale framing an auspicious object; bird in landscape in octagonal frame in center; floral scrolls outside.
Mark: in center of base, square, black pigment under green enamel, not read.

Marking(s)

On base, black on green square, inside double ring drawn in cobalt.

Label

This is one of a series of large Kutani-style dishes with bird-and-flower motifs related to Chinese painting.  The Kutani style of porcelain decoration, using green, yellow, and purple enamels, takes its name from a village in Kaga Province and formerly was thought to have been made there.  Recent archaeological excavations and scientific study have shown, however, that Kutani-style porcelain was made at kilns in Arita, Hizen Province.  Scholars disagree on the extent of such production in Kutani itself.

Published References
  • Jayne Shatz. Japanese Overglaze Enameled Porcelains:The Journey from Tradition to a Contemporary Palette. .
  • Zaigai Nihon no Shiho [Japanese Art: Selections from Western Collections]. 10 vols., Tokyo, 1979 - 1980. vol. 9: pl. 64.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 71.
  • Imaizumi Motosuke. Shoki Arita to Kokutani. Tokyo. fig. 93.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 107, vol. 2: p. 181.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 86.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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