When Freer purchased this unglazed bodhisattva figure from Yamanaka and Company in 1905, he noted on the invoice, "It is said the maker was a Chinese priest and that he presented it to a Japanese temple in the 16th century." Yamanaka had acquired the piece from the Thomas Waggaman sale, where it was part of a long run of "miscellaneous" Japanese ceramics. Later, in his inventory notes, Freer seemed to reject his earlier idea about the figure and commented, "We have no record of the age or place of manufacture of this specimen. It is, however, Chinese and I fancy not later than early Ming." The date of this piece remains a mystery: it is attributed to the Ming or Qing dynasty, dating to the fifteenth through the nineteenth century.

Figure

15th-19th century

Ming or Qing dynasty

Earthenware with white slip and traces of red, green and black pigment

HxWxD: 32.2 x 15.5 x 11.5 cm

China

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

87

South

Figure of a bodhisattva

F1905.30

Yamanaka and Co.

New York

New York

United States

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In nineteenth-century Japan, the cat was an occasional companion of courtesans and, in art, suggestive of willfulness, stealth, and eroticism. In the Peacock Room, Freer placed this figure on the mantel alongside a number of earth-toned tea bowls and beneath Whistler's La Princesse du pays de la porcelain, which depicts the Anglo-Greek beauty Christina Spartali in Japanese robes, surrounded by a variety of decorative objects from China and Japan.

Figure

Probably Kyoto ware

19th century

Edo period or Meiji era

Earthenware with iron pigment under clear lead glaze

HxWxD: 2.9 x 5.5 x 3.4 cm

Probably Kyoto

Japan

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

28.1

North

Figure of a cat

F1897.33

Matsuki Bunkyo

Boston

Massachusetts

United States

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1897.33.jpg