Omuro ware freshwater jar for the tea ceremony

Cylindrical in shape, the jar has a wide, round mouth, and widens to a rounded bottom and flat base. The wheelmade stoneware body is coated with multiple applications of polychrome glazes. Two vertical, pierced “rolled leaf” lug handles are attached on opposite sides. Pronounced broad, irregular crackle to the glaze. Stamped base.

Round, brown-black lacquered wood lid, with loop handle. Accompanying boxes.

Maker(s)
Artist: Nonomura Ninsei (active ca. 1646-77)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, mid 17th century
Medium
Stoneware clay with iron and rice-straw ash glazes; lacquered wooden lid
Dimensions
H x W x D (overall): 19.5 x 18.6 x 15.1 cm (7 11/16 x 7 5/16 x 5 15/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Kyoto prefecture, Kyoto, Omuro kiln
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1998.8a-i
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea ceremony water jar (mizusashi)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, Omuro ware, stoneware, tea, water
Provenance

Yamada Takeji, Kobe, Japan [1]

To 1998
Takashi Yanagi, Kyoto, to 1998

From 1998
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Takashi Yanagi in1998

Notes:

[1] The object was included in an exhibition of Yamada Takeji's collection, held at the Osaka Municipal Art Museum, the Tokugawa Art Museum, and the Nezu Art Museum in 1967, and in a publication, Shoki Kyoyaki, later translated as Masahiko Sato, Arts of Japan 2, Kyoto Ceramics (N.Y., Tokyo: Weatherhill/Shibundo, 1973). See Curatorial Note 3, Louise Cort, 5 January 1998, in the object record.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Takashi Yanagi
Yamada Takeji

Description

Cylindrical in shape, the jar has a wide, round mouth, and widens to a rounded bottom and flat base. The wheelmade stoneware body is coated with multiple applications of polychrome glazes. Two vertical, pierced "rolled leaf" lug handles are attached on opposite sides. Pronounced broad, irregular crackle to the glaze. Stamped base.

Round, brown-black lacquered wood lid, with loop handle. Accompanying boxes.

Marking(s)

Stamped base

Label

Nonomura Ninsei can be counted in the handful of Japanese ceramic artists known by name, along with Chojiro and Kenzan, who have exerted the most profound and lasting influence on the development of Japanese ceramics. Ninsei represents the essence of Kyoto ceramics: he absorbed and reinterpreted all the major trends and tastes of his time, and his work had a polish and finesse characteristic of most crafts made in the old imperial capital.

This intellectually complex jar (just the sort that Kyoto tea masters loved) looks back to influential Japanese ceramics of the late sixteenth century.

Published References
  • Sekai toji zenshu [Catalogue of the World's Ceramics]. 19 vols., Tokyo, 1976-1982. cat. 133.
  • Nonomura Ninsei ten [Nonomura Ninsei Exhibition]. Exh. cat. Kanazawa City, Japan. cat. 101.
  • Mizusashi [Tea-Ceremony Water Jars]: Chaseki no Suiki: Heisei 7-nen shuki tokubetsuten. Exh. cat. Kyoto. cat. 62.
  • Ninsei no chawan [Ninsei's Teabowls]. Kansho Shirizu, no. 7 Tokyo. p. 50.
  • Oka Yoshiko. Ninsei to Kenzan—sono katachi to moyo [Ninsei and Kenzan—form and decoration]. vol. 29 Kyoto, 2014. p. 86, fig. 7.
  • Oka Yoshiko. Kokuho Ninsei no nazo. Tokyo. p. 152, fig. 12.
  • 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. 308-309.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
SI Usage Statement

Usage Conditions Apply

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Request Permission | Terms of Use