Dish

Large shallow dish with plain rim, brown lip.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: transparent. (Three spur marks surrounding mark on base).
Decoration: overglaze enamels, “tortoise shell” pattern; two patterns frame birds and flowers, one a lion and peonies. Outside: scrolls and lei-wen in underglaze blue.
Mark: underglaze blue in double square, within large double ring.

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: 7 x 35 cm (2 3/4 x 13 3/4 in)
Geography
Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita, Yambeta kiln group
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1968.13a-d
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Dish

Keywords
Arita ware, Kutani type, cobalt glaze, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, lion, porcelain
Provenance

To 1968
Yamanaka and Company, Osaka, Japan. [1]

From 1968
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka and Company, Osaka, Japan. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yamanaka and Co. 1917-1965

Description

Large shallow dish with plain rim, brown lip.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: transparent. (Three spur marks surrounding mark on base).
Decoration: overglaze enamels, "tortoise shell" pattern; two patterns frame birds and flowers, one a lion and peonies. Outside: scrolls and lei-wen in underglaze blue.
Mark: underglaze blue in double square, within large double ring.

Marking(s)

underglaze blue in double square, within large double ring.

Label

This dish is a classic example of the Old Kutani style of porcelain decoration used at kilns in Arita in the mid-seventeenth century. Translucent enamels in dark tones cover much of the surface of the vessel. Within an overall geometric grid, smaller geometric patterns fill concentric bands of contrasting colors. Three six-sided bands frame bird-and-flower motifs inspired by Chinese painting.

Published References
  • Zaigai Nihon no Shiho [Japanese Art: Selections from Western Collections]. 10 vols., Tokyo, 1979 - 1980. vol. 9: pl. 65.
  • Yamashita Sakuro. Shoki Kakiemon no Kenkyu. .
  • Yamashita Sakuro. Koimari to Kokutani. Tokyo. pl. 3.
  • , Kawahara Masahiko, Nakazato Tarouemon XII. Toji taikei [Complete Collection of Far Eastern Ceramics]. 48 vols., Tokyo, 1972-1978. vol. 22: pl. 83.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 70.
  • Imaizumi Motosuke. Shoki Arita to Kokutani. Tokyo. fig. 88.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 106, vol. 2: p. 180.
  • Wakamizu. no. 4. p. 7, fig. 3.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 85.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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