Raku-type earthenware with Red Raku glaze; bamboo-skin stopper
Dimensions:
H x W x D: 8.4 x 8.1 x 8.1 cm (3 5/16 x 3 3/16 x 3 3/16 in)
Style:
Toyosuke (Toyoraku) ware
Type:
Vessel
Origin:
Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, Japan
Date:
1858
Period:
Edo period
Description:
Raku clay (color not visible). Hand formed. Faceted neck, two loop handles, diagonal slash on one side between handles. Oval potter's seal, "Toyosuke," impressed on base, followed by incised inscription, "Hachiju okina" (eighty [year old] old man). Red Raku glaze (red iron oxide brushed on unevenly under clear low-temperature glaze); oxide not applied over seal and inscription on base, where glaze appears brownish yellow.
Inscriptions:
Oval potter's seal, "Toyosuke," impressed on base, followed by incised inscription, "Hachiju okina" (eighty [year old] old man). This seems to identify the bottle with the long-lived third-generation Toyosuke who died in 1864 at the age of eighty-six (Morse 1901: 214-15; Ezaki 1981: 117; Ono 1935, vol. 4: 262).
Provenance:
To 1901
Yamanaka & Company, to 1901 [1]
From 1901 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1901 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1031, 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.
[2] See note 1.
[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.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Previous custodian or owner:
Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
