Vase

Freer purchased this Qing dynasty vase from the sale of the Samuel Colman collection just after the turn of the twentieth century; he believed it was a much older specimen, dating to the Song dynasty. Western connoisseurs who collected Chinese ceramics at the turn of the century knew relatively little about earlier wares. Since the meticulously formed and decorated Qing dynasty porcelains were generally regarded as the culminating achievement of a centuries-old tradition, it was assumed that wares like this cream-colored stoneware vase—more heavily potted and glazed-were from an earlier, less sophisticated period of production.