Bowl

Large glazed bowl, almost hemispherical in shape, with a small, flat, unglazed ring foot. The bowl is slightly uneven and slopes to one side. Light gray-green glaze inside and out, with floral decoration in a dark green-brown underglaze.

This deep bowl with inverted rim bears swiftly-sketched decoration of three floral sprays between to horizontal bands, with additional sprays in the bottom, that is a later version of the “Thanh Hoa”style, with the iron pigment applied before the glaze, which fired to a pale gray-green. Bowls and ewers of this type are dated late 13th-14th century (Stevenson and Guy 1997, nos. 201-203; cover and 155). The bottom bears five triangular spur marks. The flat base is unglazed.

Historical period(s)
Tran dynasty, late 13th-14th century
Medium
Stoneware with iron pigment under translucent, gray-green glaze
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 10.8 x 18.6 cm (4 1/4 x 7 5/16 in)
Geography
Vietnam, Hai Duong province, Red River Delta kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — funds provided by Betty and John R. Menke
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1998.13
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
flower, stoneware, Tran dynasty (1225 - 1400), Vietnam
Provenance

To 1998
Chao Phraya Gallery, Washington, DC, acquired from an unidentified collector, to 1998 [1]

From 1998
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Chao Phraya Gallery in 1998

Notes:

[1] According to the proprietors of the Chao Phraya Gallery, this object came from a collector who had acquired it in Indonesia around 1976 (see Curatorial Note 5, Louise Cort, December 19, 1997).

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Chao Phraya Gallery

Description

Large glazed bowl, almost hemispherical in shape, with a small, flat, unglazed ring foot. The bowl is slightly uneven and slopes to one side. Light gray-green glaze inside and out, with floral decoration in a dark green-brown underglaze.

This deep bowl with inverted rim bears swiftly-sketched decoration of three floral sprays between to horizontal bands, with additional sprays in the bottom, that is a later version of the "Thanh Hoa"style, with the iron pigment applied before the glaze, which fired to a pale gray-green. Bowls and ewers of this type are dated late 13th-14th century (Stevenson and Guy 1997, nos. 201-203; cover and 155). The bottom bears five triangular spur marks. The flat base is unglazed.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort, George Williams, David P. Rehfuss. Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia. Washington. .
  • Betonamu no toji [Vietnamese Ceramics Exhibition]. Exh. cat. Fukuoka City, Japan. .
  • John Stevenson, John Guy, Louise Allison Cort. Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition. Chicago. .
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. pp. 212-213.
Collection Area(s)
Southeast Asian Art
Web Resources
Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia
Google Cultural Institute
F|S Southeast Asia
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