Tea bowl, possibly Karatsu ware
date: label: Date
content: early 17th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
notes: label: Description
content: Tea bowl, four spurmarks inside; gold lacquer repairs.
label: Description
content: Clay: coarse gray stoneware
label: Description
content: Glaze: clear ash glaze, fine crackle, bluish areas on inside; somewhat underfired on inside; somewhat underfired on outside. Deeply stained by tea on inside. Foot unglazed.
label: Label
content: When Charles Lang Freer acquired this tea bowl from a Japanese dealer, it was indentified as Korean. More recently some Japanese scholars have suggested that the bowl was made in Korean style at a Japanese kiln, possibly the Rakuzan kiln in Matsue city, Shimane prefecture, which specialized in Korean-style tea bowls. The bowl is housed in a wooden box with an inscription recording its receipt as a gift from the warrior-ruler of Matsue, Matsudaira Fumai (1751-1818).
label: Provenance
content: To 1898
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, to 1898 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1898 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1898 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Pottery List, L. 560, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Boxed In: Japanese Ceramics and Their Storage Boxes (September 23, 1982 to February 17, 1983)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Saga prefecture, Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: lacquer
label: Topic
content: ceramic
label: Topic
content: Karatsu ware
label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: tea
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: stoneware
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: lacquer repair
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1898.66a-m
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Stoneware clay with ash glaze; gold lacquer repairs
label: Dimensions
content: H x Diam: 5.8 × 18 cm (2 5/16 × 7 1/16 in)
label: Style
content: Possibly Karatsu ware