Black Raku ware tea bowl named Minogame (Mossy-tailed tortoise)
date: label: Date
content: 1605-1637
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Attributed to Hon'ami Koetsu 本阿弥光悦 (1558-1637)
notes: label: Description
content: Tea-bowl of cylindrical shape, flat cut rim, named Mino-game (long-tailed tortoise).
label: Description
content: Clay: coarse dark brown stoneware
label: Description
content: Glaze: dark olive green to brown, uneven mat surface
label: Label
content: Hon'ami Koetsu was a sword polisher and appaiser by profession, but he gained fame as a calligrapher and also as a maker of tea bowls that were much admired and replicated. Surviving letters show that Koetsu collaborated for making tea bowls with the Raku workshop of professional potters in Kyoto: using clay supplied by the workshop, Koetsu sculpted bowl forms by hand and returned them to the workshop for glazing and firing.
label: Label
content: The black glaze on this cylindrical bowl with blunt-cut rim was scraped away to create a feeling of dignified age and wear. The slightly underfired glaze has a green tinge and matte surface. In shape and glazing, this bowl closely resembles several other Black Raku tea bowls thought to have been made by Koetsu. If not from Koetsu's own hand, this bowl is probably a faithful copy by a professional potter. The bowl's name Minogame (Mossy-Tailed Tortoise) is recorded on the bowl's storage box, which was inscribed by Rokurokusai (1837-1910), eleventh head of the Omote Senke school of tea.
label: Provenance
content: To 1899
label: Provenance
content: Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1899 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1899 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1899 [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. 423, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
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: Imperfectly Beautiful: Inventing Japanese Ceramic Style (October 14, 2017 - October 14, 2019)
label: Exhibition History
content: The Power to See Beauty (October 14, 2017 to September 6, 2022)
label: Exhibition History
content: Tea Ceramics after Koetsu (June 27, 2015 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art (June 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Freer and Tea: 100 Years of The Book of Tea (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art in the Age of Koetsu (June 6, 1998 to February 15, 1999)
label: Exhibition History
content: The Koetsu Tea Bowl (May 15, 1998 to June 23, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Kyoto Ceramics (November 9, 1984 to April 25, 1985)
label: Exhibition History
content: Boxed In: Japanese Ceramics and Their Storage Boxes (September 23, 1982 to February 17, 1983)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ceramics/Puppets (June 16, 1980 to July 14, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to January 17, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art--Shinto (October 12, 1976 to December 10, 1976)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art (October 2, 1975 to October 8, 1976)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Paintings Attributed to Iwasa Matabei (July 1, 1974 to October 1, 1975)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art: Paintings and Pottery (July 1, 1966 to May 2, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art (January 1, 1963 to July 1, 1966)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: ceramic
label: Topic
content: Raku 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: 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: F1899.34a-c
objectType: label: Type
content: Vessel
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Earthenware with black raku glaze
label: Dimensions
content: H x Diam: 8.7 × 12.5 cm (3 7/16 × 4 15/16 in)
label: Style
content: Raku ware