Bottle with decoration of clouds and phoenixes

When Freer loaned this bottle to an exhibition of East Asian ceramics at the Japan Society of New York in February 1914, it was thought to date to the Song dynasty. Like many of the ceramics that Freer purchased from the dealer Matsuki Bunkyo, this vessel has since been identified as dating to the Yuan dynasty. This was not necessarily because Matsuki was misrepresenting his goods; almost no one understood Yuan ceramics well until the 1950s. In the Peacock Room, the bottle was exhibited with other dark, glossy ceramics, some of which were similarly decorated with touches of gold pigment.