Bottle

Label Text

Freer, who did not care for porcelain, admired the warmer appearance of white or cream stoneware from the Satsuma kilns in southern Japan. This hexagonal bottle was Freer's first acquisition of an Asian ceramic. The bottle bears scenes of fishermen along a river—a "Whistlerian landscape," as Freer described it in his inventory notes. Although Freer avoided the commercial versions of decorated Satsuma ware, made for sale at international expositions, he probably appreciated the parallels between this jar's refined decoration and the Japanese and American paintings he collected. In 1905, Freer acquired another sake flask of Satsuma ware (F1905.41), which was decorated so similarly to his first Japanese ceramic piece that Freer considered it to be "by the same workman."

Object Name

Bottle

Ware

Satsuma ware, White Satsuma type

Dated

18th century

Period

Edo period

Medium

Stoneware with cobalt pigment under clear glaze

Dimensions

HxW: 21.8 x 17.8 cm

Locale

Hiyamizu kiln

City

Kagoshima

Country

Japan

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Iteration

2

Shelf Number

162

Wall

West

Artist

Decoration attributed to Kano Tangen

Title

Bottle

Object Number

F1892.26

Freer Source

Tozo Takayanagi

Freer Source City

New York

Freer Source State

New York

Freer Source Country

United States

Image

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1892.26.jpg

Collection

Citation

Decoration attributed to Kano Tangen, "Bottle," in The Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Accession No. F1892.26, Item #3315, http://www.peacockroom.wayne.edu/items/show/3315 (accessed March 28, 2024).