Glaze: lustrous gray-green celadon; brown crackle.
Decoration: five human figures and dragon in applied relief, under glaze.
Label:
This long-necked jar bears a relief figure of a dragon. For use in Chinese burial ritual, it would have been paired with a jar of the same shape bearing a tiger figure. Both jars would hold offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.
Provenance:
To 1906
Yamanaka & Company, to 1906 [1]
From 1906 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1906 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1467, 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
Exhibition History:
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2022] (September 3, 2022 - ongoing)
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2017-2019] (October 14, 2017 to January 2, 2019)
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2011-2016] (April 9, 2011 to January 4, 2016)
America Meets Asia at the Freer Gallery of Art (May 9, 1993 to June 2, 1998)
Previous custodian or owner:
Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)