Serving dish with design of “Three Friends”

Dish; rim indented in five places; low square-cut foot; wheel-thrown; unusually large size for this ware; four gold lacquer repairs on rim.
Clay: cream-buff stoneware.
Glaze: (1) transparent, feldspathic, slightly rough matte surface; uneven, some areas of crackle; scars and inclusions. (2) three large areas of glossier copper green, pooling and mottling in uneven thickness.
Decoration: painted in underglaze iron brown in design of bamboo and bamboo sprouts above five-petalled blossoms in hexagonal diaper pattern, simple foliate scroll on rim, except in parts under green glaze. Three irregular patches of green glaze extending from rim edge towards center.
Accessories: wooden storage box.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1615-1624
Medium
Stoneware with Oribe glaze and iron decoration under clear glaze; gold lacquer repairs
Style
Mino ware, Oribe type
Dimensions
H x W x D: 8.3 x 37 x 37 cm (3 1/4 x 14 9/16 x 14 9/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Gifu prefecture, Tajimi, Probably Kamagane kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1973.6a-e
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Serving dish

Keywords
bamboo, Edo period (1615 - 1868), flower, Japan, lacquer repair, Mino ware, Oribe type, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), stoneware
Provenance

?-1973
Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts 古美術 柳, Kyoto, Japan method of acquisition unknown [1]

From 1973
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts [2]

Notes:
[1] See letter from Harold P. Stern, Director of the Freer Gallery of Art to Mr. Takashi Yanagi 柳孝 on Nawate Street in Kyoto, Japan. In the letter, Stern thanks Yanagi for hosting him at his gallery, Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, where he saw this ceramic ware and several other objects. In July 1972, Yanagi shipped the object via Japan Aircargo Consolidators to Washington D.C., allowing the Freer Gallery of Art to inspect the ware for purchase. Yanagi Takashi (d.2021) was a preeminent dealer of Japanese wares and owned Yanagi Fine Arts.

[2] See letter from Yanagi Takashi, August 28, 1973, original in accession file. In the letter, Takashi confirms receipt of payment.

Research completed November 2, 2022.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Takashi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts
Takashi Yanagi

Description

Dish; rim indented in five places; low square-cut foot; wheel-thrown; unusually large size for this ware; four gold lacquer repairs on rim.
Clay: cream-buff stoneware.
Glaze: (1) transparent, feldspathic, slightly rough matte surface; uneven, some areas of crackle; scars and inclusions. (2) three large areas of glossier copper green, pooling and mottling in uneven thickness.
Decoration: painted in underglaze iron brown in design of bamboo and bamboo sprouts above five-petalled blossoms in hexagonal diaper pattern, simple foliate scroll on rim, except in parts under green glaze. Three irregular patches of green glaze extending from rim edge towards center.
Accessories: wooden storage box.

Label

The craftsman who decorated this dish began by ladling three scoops of copper-green glaze over the surface, creating somewhat randomly the area to be filled with painted decoration. The decoration combines naturalistic bamboo plants—including abundant bamboo shoots, a
delicacy of early spring in Japanese cuisine—and geometric patterns. Dishes of this large size were used to serve food at banquets.

Published References
  • Andrew Maske. Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain. Farnham, Surry, UK and Burlington, Vermont. fig. 4.7.
  • Zaigai Nihon no Shiho [Japanese Art: Selections from Western Collections]. 10 vols., Tokyo, 1979 - 1980. vol. 9: pl. 33.
  • , Kawahara Masahiko, Nakazato Tarouemon XII. Toji taikei [Complete Collection of Far Eastern Ceramics]. 48 vols., Tokyo, 1972-1978. vol. 12: pl. 79.
  • Sekai toji zenshu [Catalogue of the World's Ceramics]. 19 vols., Tokyo, 1976-1982. vol. 5: p. 301, pl. 246.
  • Fujioka Ryoichi. Shino and Oribe Ceramics. Japanese Arts Library, vol. 1, 1st ed. Tokyo, New York and San Francisco. pl. 103.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 147.
  • Fujioka Ryoichi. Shino to Oribe. Shibundo, no. 51 Tokyo, August 15, 1970. pl. 19.
  • "日本の陶磁." Nihon no toji. 14 vols., Tokyo. vol. 4: pl. 174.
  • David Palmer. City and Countryside, History and the Potter's Art. no. 25. p. 15.
  • Louise Allison Cort. Seto and Mino Ceramics. Washington and Honolulu, 1992. cat. 36, p. 30.
  • Bonnie Kemske. The Teabowl: East and West. London, United Kingdom, October 3, 2017. p. 47, fig. 22.
  • Mino koto. Exh. cat. Japan. p. 70.
  • Julia Murray. A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980. Exh. cat. Washington, 1979. cat. 68, p. 89.
  • Matsu, take, ume. Kyoto. p. 174, pl. 54.
  • Penelope Mason, (Revised by) Donald Dinwiddie. History of Japanese Art., 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. p. 250, fig. 285.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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