Lidded jar with design of butterflies

Jar

This lidded jar, which Freer acquired from the dealer Matsuki Bunkyo in 1896, was originally thought to be much older. Freer initially was uncertain if it were from the Song, Yuan, or Ming dynasty, but, perhaps because he thought it "fine," finally convinced himself in 1918 that it was indeed a Song piece. It is actually from the 19th century, and it was formed by the modern industrial technique of slip-casting. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, this jar was displayed on a high shelf along the east wall, where the butterfly design related to neighboring ceramics decorated with images of flora and fauna.

19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Matsuki Bunkyo

Stoneware with white slip, iron pigment under and over clear glaze.

Cizhou-type ware

HxWxD: 17.5 x 13.0 x 18.1 cm

F1896.42a-b

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82

East

Qing dynasty

China

United States

Boston

Massachusetts

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

In the Peacock Room in Detroit, Freer displayed this Han dynasty tomb jar with several other examples of early Chinese funerary wares. The cultural significance of the jar, however, was probably less compelling for him than its subtly textured, slightly iridescent green surface. Shortly after he purchased this vessel, he began to acquire medieval Near Eastern ceramics and contemporary art pottery from Detroit's Pewabic workshop. Both of these types of ceramics also featured iridescent glazes and mottled surfaces, qualities that, for Freer, resonated with the tonalism of his American paintings collection.

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 14.4 x 18.1 cm

F1902.202

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81

East

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Dish

Dish

Freer purchased this Chinese porcelain dish during his 1907 visit to Japan. It is one of the few ceramics that Freer acquired there: most of his Japanese and Chinese ceramics came from dealers in the United States, such as Yamanaka and Company in New York and Matsuki Bunkyo in Boston.

18th-19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Porcelain with copper-based peach bloom glaze and cobalt inscription under clear glaze

Jingdezhen ware

HxW: 4.7 x 20.5 cm

F1907.526

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80

East

Qing dynasty

Jingdezhen

China

Tomb vessel with lid ("hill jar")

Tomb vessel

This Eastern Han dynasty tomb jar, purchased by Freer in 1905, came from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company. In China, it would have been filled with funeral offerings, but Freer was more interested in its aesthetic qualities than its original use. This example features a bluish-green glaze with a golden iridescence and an overflow of yellow. The lid has been repaired with gold lacquer, giving it a particularly apt chromatic resonance with the Peacock Room, whose secondary title is "Harmony in Blue and Gold." The following year, Freer purchased a similar specimen from the same dealer, which he displayed adjacent to this one.

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 24.9 x 21.5 cm

F1905.83a-b

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79

East

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Jar with design of phoenix and dragon

Jar

Freer acquired this fourteenth-century Yuan dynasty jar with a phoenix and dragon design from Yamanaka and Company in New York. In the Peacock Room in Detroit he displayed it on one of the tall shelves surrounding the gilded peacock shutters. His arrangement of pots on this side of the room is the least formally coherent; many of the selections and juxtapositions seem to have been made according to size and shape—simply filling the space rather than, as elsewhere, orchestrating harmonious relationships.

14th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with white slip and iron pigment under alkaline glaze

Cizhou ware

HxW: 31.6 x 32.9 cm

F1906.36a-b

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78

East

Yuan dynasty

Pengcheng

China

United States

New York

New York

Bottle

Bottle

"This jar," Freer commented in an undated inventory note, "was found in Corea [sic] and was originally supposed to have been made in that country; I believe it, however, to be Chinese made during the Sung dynasty." The piece was purchased from the Boston-based dealer Matsuki Bunkyo, and it is now believed to be an Edo-period piece from Japan. In the Peacock Room, Freer placed it alongside other similarly large vessels, on the tall shelves surrounding the gilded peacock shutters.

18th-19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Matsuki Bunkyo

Stoneware with white slip under clear glaze

HxW: 30.9 x 26.3 cm

F1900.63

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77

East

Edo period

Japan

United States

Boston

Massachusetts

Jar

Jar

"Superb," declared Freer of this baluster-shaped jar, which he had purchased from Yamanaka and Company in New York in 1896. Although it was sold to the collector as a Korean vessel, he later noted, " I believe Chinese—Sung or earlier." While actually from the Yuan dynasty, Freer was correct in identifying this piece as Chinese in origin. The dealer's original attribution as Korean presumably resulted from the use of overall white slip—a technique that would have been familiar in Japan (where Yamanaka and Company's flagship gallery was located), from its use on Choson period Korean tea bowls.

14th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with white slip beneath clear glaze

Cizhou ware

HxW: 34.9 x 29.8 cm

F1896.84

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76

East

Yuan dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Jar

Jar

Now dated to the nineteenth century, this jar, with extensive red lacquer repairs, came to Freer from Paris-based dealer Siegfried Bing. He believed it to be a Korean antique, while the ceramics expert Edward Sylvester Morse although it was Tamba ware from Japan. Both men regarded this as an "important specimen," as Freer described it; Morse echoed this sentiment: "Very extraordinary specimen," he noted in 1921. The piece has puzzled subsequent scholars, who have been uncertain about its geographic origins, but sure that it was not the ancient vessel that Freer and his contemporaries believed it to be. It may be an example of a fake antique, produced specifically for an international market.

19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Siegfried Bing

Stoneware with white slip under clear glaze; lacquer repairs

Possibly Buncheong ware

HxW: 45.4 x 26.4 cm

F1904.147

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75

East

Joseon period, Edo period, or Meiji era

Korea or Japan

France

Paris

Inkstone screen

Inkstone screen (kenbyo)

This desk screen is one of several ceramics that Freer acquired and believed to be by the renowned Kyoto ceramist Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743), but since have been reattributed to nineteenth-century imitators. In his 1885 book <i>Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings</i>, Edward Sylvester Morse commented on the format of works like this: "In the old-fashioned genkan, or hall-way, there stands a solid screen of wood with heavy frame, supported by two transverse feet. This screen is called <i>tsui-tate</i>, and is an article of furniture belonging to the hall....Diminutive models of the tsui-tate are made in pottery or porcelain, and these are for the purpose of standing in front of the ink-stone to prevent the mats from being spattered when the ink is rubbed." In the Peacock Room in Detroit, this desk screen was placed among ceramic vessels with similar landscape decorations.

Imitation of Ogata Kenzan

late 19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

R. E. Moore

Buff clay; iron pigment, enamels under transparent lead glaze.

HxWxD: 27.6 x 38.2 x 2.6 cm

F1897.20

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74

East

Meiji era

Kyoto

Japan

United States

New York

New York

Vase in mimikuchi form

Vase

After Freer purchased this mottled, wine-red&#151;nearly black&#151;glazed vase from Matsuki Bunkyo, he described it as "rare and beautiful." He suspected that its form was influenced by Korean pottery, and therefore believed, erroneously, that the vase was an example of seventeenth-century Satsuma ware. Satsuma ware originated when skilled Korean potters were forcibly relocated following the Japanese Invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. Freer's vase, however, is now known to be of more recent date. It is a late nineteenth century example of Kyoto or Seto ware. The form of this vase, with its distinctive wing-shaped handles may be borrowed from prototypes worked in metal.

19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Matsuki Bunkyo

Stoneware with iron glaze; glass-powder repair on base

Kyoto or Seto ware

HxWxD: 33.2 x 37.2 x 19.7 cm

F1897.32

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73

East

Edo period or Meiji era

Kyoto or Seto

Japan

United States

Boston

Massachusetts

Jar

Jar

This jar belongs to the historical region of Raqqa, Mesopotamia and originated in Syria during the twelfth or thirteenth century. Freer purchased it from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian, who also owned galleries in London, Cairo, and New York. The piece, like much Raqqa ware available at the turn of the twentieth century, is ashen and crackled in appearance. This was part of its appeal to Freer and his contemporaries, who imagined this piece to be much older than it is now known to be.

12th-13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 30.1 x 30.3 cm

F1903.187

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72

East

Syria

France

Paris

Vase with design of peonies

Vase

Grotesque head loop handles appear on either side of this grayish beaker-shaped flower vase of the Edo period (1700-1820). Freer purchased the stoneware vase, which bears a design of peonies, from a customary dealer, Matsuki Bunkyo, in 1900. The vase had previously belonged to Ikeda Seisuke, a noted Kyoto dealer. In his object notes, Freer referred to "the elder Ikeda of Kioto [sic], who showed me the jar during one of my early trips to Japan." This vase is decidedly less subtle in its form and decoration than most of the ceramics that Freer collected, suggesting that sentimental memories of his first visit to Japan in 1895 may have influenced his purchase of the piece when it was offered by Matsuki some five years later.

1700-1820

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Matsuki Bunkyo

Stoneware with cobalt decoration under translucent glaze

Satsuma ware

HxW: 31.6 x 28.8 cm

F1900.66a-b

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70

East

Edo period

Japan

United States

Boston

Massachusetts

Kenzan-style water jar with crane and fishnet design

Tea ceremony water jar (tomobuta mizusashi)

Dealer Matsuki Bunkyo sold this water jar to Freer in 1898, describing it as a work by the renowned Kyoto ceramist Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) or one of his earliest followers. Edward Sylvester Morse, a noted authority on Japanese art, bluntly informed Freer, "Don't believe Kenzan ever made that in the world"; the vessel is now attributed to a nineteenth-century imitator. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, Freer displayed this jar, with its design of cranes and fishnets, among other vessels featuring figurative surface decorations.

Imitation of Ogata Kenzan

late 19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Matsuki Bunkyo

Buff clay; white slip, iron pigment under transparent and ochre-colored lead glazes

Raku ware, unknown workshop

HxWxD: 18.8 x 21.4 x 21.4 cm

F1898.52a-b

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69

East

Meiji era

Kyoto

Japan

United States

Boston

Massachusetts

Bowl

Bowl

When Freer acquired this bowl as part of a group acquisition in 1907, it (and a number of similar examples) was believed to have been made in Korea, on account of their provenance. Scholars now agree, however, that most white wares like this, despite having been found in Korean tombs, were, in fact, made in China. This qingbai porcelain bowl, which dates to the second half of the twelfth century, was part of the collection of. Horace Allen, a former missionary and then ambassador to Korea. When Allen returned to Dayton, Ohio, and decided to sell his ceramics collection, he received high offers for individual pieces. He opted instead to keep the collection intact. Freer agreed to the purchase under that condition and noted upon review of his new wares, "Can some of them be Chinese?"

second half 12th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dr. Horace N. Allen

Porcelain with transparent pale blue (qingbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 7.2 x 20.1 cm

F1907.291

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68

East

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

Toledo

OH

Bowl with incised decoration

Bowl

Application of a thin, transparent blue glaze which produces what has been characterized as a "cold white light" onto white porcelain is characteristic of Chinese Ch'ing pai ware. The effect is a translucency which alters according to its lighting. This Southern Song dynasty bowl is a classic example of that ceramic period. Under the glaze on the interior of the bowl is an excised design sometimes known as "boys among peonies." The coloration of the glaze is also slightly more saturated in the interior. This piece was purchased by Freer as part of the Horace Allen collection of Korean pottery and was originally thought to have been produced in that country.

second half of 12th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dr. Horace N. Allen

Porcelain with transparent pale blue (qingbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 7.0 x 20.0 cm

F1907.290

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67

East

Southern Song dynasty

Jingdezhen

China

United States

Toledo

OH

Bottle

Bottle

Purchased by Freer from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian in 1903, this bottle, with its distinctive shape and porcelain-like appearance, was modeled after a Chinese prototype. It thus evoked for Freer the kind of cross-cultural connections that undergirded his collecting philosophy. He described it as "an interesting specimen of 16th-century ware formerly in the celebrated collection of Captain Meyer," and noted that it was "valuable for its association quite apart from other qualities." In the Peacock Room, Freer displayed the bottle adjacent to other Iranian wares as well as Chinese porcelains and a Korean celadon ewer.

17th-18th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 25.3 x 14.4 cm

F1903.196

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66.1

East

Safavid period

Iran

France

Paris

Dish

Dish

Freer purchased this Safavid period white porcelain dish from the Paris-based dealer Dikran G. Kelekian. It was originally part of the Charles A. Dana Collection, about which a New York Times article had reported, "At the time of his death [Dana] owned the largest and most valuable collection of Oriental pottery and porcelains in America, with the single exception of that formed by W. T. Walters of Baltimore." Freer remarked that this shallow dish, with its black painted design and piercings below the rim, was a "good specimen" although he also noted that he wanted to compare it with a "finer specimen" he had purchased directly from the Dana sale.

18th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste, pierced and painted under glaze

HxW: 5.8 x 18.2 cm

F1903.6

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66

East

Safavid period

Iran

France

Paris

Ewer

Ewer

Wonsan-ri kilns or Bangsan-dong kilns

Freer purchased this ewer from the collection of Horace Allen, a Presbyterian medical missionary who traveled to Korea in 1884. Allen went on to assemble a remarkable collection of ceramics, many taken from the tombs of Korean nobility. Freer purchased his entire set of eighty pieces when it was offered for sale in 1907. This piece is an early example of Korean celadon. The technique of preparing celadon glazes, which derive their color from traces of iron fired in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere, was first developed by Chinese potters and began to be used in Korea during the 10th century. Like this plain, rounded ewer, early examples tend to reflect the shapes and decorative techniques of the Chinese Yue ware celadon, which was made in a region not far from Korea and may have been the source of celadon glaze technology in Korea

11th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dr. Horace N. Allen

Stoneware with celadon glaze

HxW: 22.3 x 14.5 cm

F1907.284a-b

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65

East

Goryeo period

Korea

United States

Toledo

OH

Vase

Vase

This melon-shaped Ch'ing-pai ware vase has a brilliant white porcelain body that is tinted with an almost transparent blue glaze. It was purchased by Freer in 1907 as part of a group acquisition from a fellow collector, Horace Allen, who had amassed a significant group of ceramics during his time as a missionary in Korea. Of his vase, Allen had written "It is pronounced by those collectors who have seen it to be the finest piece of white Korai they have seen." He declared it "perfect," and Freer may have agreed, selecting it to be among the ceramics on prominent view in the Peacock Room. The origins of this piece, though once believed to be Korean, are now known to be eleventh-century Chinese, from the Northern Song dynasty.

11th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dr. Horace N. Allen

Porcelain clay with transparent pale blue (qinqbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 26.1 x 13.7 cm

F1907.289

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64

East

Northern Song dynasty

China

United States

Toledo

OH

Ewer

Ewer

This Chinese porcelain ewer was excavated from a Goryeo dynasty tomb in Korea. It was acquired by Horace Allen, who first traveled to Korea in 1884 as a Presbyterian medical missionary. Allen, who was later named ambassador, went on to assemble a remarkable collection of ceramics, many taken from the tombs of Korean nobility. Freer purchased his entire set of eighty pieces when it was offered for sale in 1907. He went over the collection with the scholar Ernest Fenollosa, who immediately wondered, "Can some of them be Chinese?" More recent scholarship has confirmed Fenollosa's hunch: this ewer, and some of the other pieces acquired from Allen, are now understood to be Chinese and to date to the Song dynasty. They document the extensive use of imported Chinese ceramics by the Goryeo nobility.

late 11th-early 12th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dr. Horace N. Allen

Porcelain with transparent pale blue (<i>qingbai</i>) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 22.0 x 12.1 cm

F1907.285

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63

East

Northern Song dynasty

China

United States

Toledo

OH

Vase

Vase

Although this vase is now thought to be from Edo period Japan, Freer, who described it as "very fine," believed it to be either Korean or thirteenth-century Chinese. He purchased it from the New York store of Yamanaka and Company, and likely compared its landscape design to Japanese ink paintings and to similarly abbreviated views of nature by James McNeill Whistler.

probably 19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with white slip and iron decoration under clear glaze

HxW: 24.0 x 17.1 cm

F1903.234

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62

East

Edo period

Japan

United States

New York

New York

Bottle

Bottle

This Ming dynasty bottle features figural decoration on the surface, as do many of the ceramics that Freer chose to display on the shelves along the east wall of the Peacock Room in 1908. He purchased it in 1901 from the Parisian art dealer Siegfried Bing. At that time, it was believed to be Korean, though subsequent scholarship has identified it as originating in China.

late 14th-15th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Siegfried Bing

Stoneware with white slip under clear glaze, enamels over glaze

Cizhou ware

HxW: 27.5 x 19.5 cm

F1901.64

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61

East

Ming dynasty

China

France

Paris

Pitcher

Pitcher

Described by Freer as "an interesting specimen, much restored," this jar was one of a number of Near Eastern ceramics shipped to him on approval by the Parisian art dealer Dikran Kelekian. In 1903, when he purchased this vessel, Freer had only recently turned his attention to ancient and medieval glazed wares from the Near East. As the availability of Japanese art in Western markets began to decline, Kelekian and other dealers looked to the arts of the Islamic world, where recent unofficial excavations had made ceramics and textiles available. This vessel, which dates to the seventeenth or eighteenth century, was already ravaged by time, with a broken foot, a hole in one side, and yellow and brown discolorations all over the brilliant cream-colored glaze. Freer, however, regarded these imperfections as aesthetically distinctive, and because of this, Raqqa ware was especially appealing to Freer. He discerned chromatic harmonies among his already-substantial collection of East Asian ceramics, his tonalist American paintings, and the iridescent glazed vessels from the Near East. He eventually amassed a substantial collection of Near Eastern ceramics. In Detroit, they were prominently featured throughout the Peacock Room, most notably massed around Whistler's <i>La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine</i> and in the eye-level shelves along the west wall.

11th-12th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste with degraded turquoise alkali-silicate glaze

Rakka ware

HxW: 16.8 x 12.2 cm

F1905.77

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60

East

Raqqa

Syria

France

Paris

Dish

Dish

This dish, purchased from Dikran Kelekian in 1908, has a greenish-white crackled glaze, with large areas of partial disintegration and a brilliant silver iridescence. Its black and blue under glaze is similarly degraded. An example of Raqqa ware from thirteenth or fourteenth-century Syria, the complex chromatic variations resonated with the blue, green, and gold decorations of Whistler's Peacock Room.

13th-14th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste decorated with glaze

HxW: 4.7 x 17.3 cm

F1908.28

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59

East

Syria

France

Paris

Bottle

Bottle

This Edo period stoneware bottle, with a lustrous brown glaze and crackled, grayish-white overflow, was one of a number of Japanese ceramics that Freer purchased from Yamanaka and Company in 1898. A decade later, he displayed it in the Peacock Room on one of the high shelves to the right of <i>La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine.</i>

1790-1850

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with iron and rice-straw-ash glazes

Agano or Takatori ware

HxW: 27.8 x 13.1 cm

F1898.453

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58

East

Edo period

Japan

United States

New York

New York

Vase

Vase

This jar, glazed greenish gray color with areas of violet-gray and a crackled surface, was believed to be Persian when Freer purchased it in 1902 from Dikran Kelekian. It is now known to be East Asian in origin, although it remains uncertain if it is Chinese or Japanese. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, Freer displayed it alongside other similarly toned ceramics from China, Japan, and Syria.

18th-19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stoneware with opaque celadon glaze

HxW: 29.1 x 23.1 cm

F1902.8

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57

North

Qing dynasty, Edo period, or Meiji era

China or Japan

France

Paris

Jug

Jug

Dated to the Parthian period of the first through third century BCE, this jug has a green, alkaline glaze that has degraded and even entirely worn off in some areas. Although it was badly damaged when Freer purchased it from Dikran Kelekian in 1905, he regarded the piece as "interesting," and in the Peacock Room he grouped it with other similarly time-ravaged examples of Mesopotamian pottery. He believed that the surfaces of these Near Eastern vessels resonated with the complex chromatic qualities of his American paintings, particularly those by James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Dewing, and Dwight Tryon.

150 B.C.E.-225 C.E.

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Glazed clay

HxW: 20.7 x 16.5 cm

F1905.243

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56

North

Parthian period

Iraq

France

Paris

Jar

Jar

Earthenware jars of this shape, typically covered with an alkaline glaze colored brown, green, or turquoise, are characteristic products from Mesopotamia during the Parthian period of the first through third century BCE. The qualities Freer most admired were the subtle colors, textured surfaces, and iridescent decay of the glaze, which he felt resonated with the complex chromatic qualities of his American paintings, particularly those by James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Dewing, and Dwight Tryon.

1st-3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Earthenware with alkaline glaze

HxW: 26.4 x 19.4 cm

F1902.7

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55

North

Parthian period

Iraq

France

Paris

Tea ceremony water jar

Tea ceremony water jar (mizusashi)

Freer purchased this tea ceremony water jar, with a clear crackled glaze suffused with opalescent blue, in 1900 from the Fifth Avenue shop of Yamanka and Company. Although its origins were uncertain in Freer's day, it is now dated to the Momoyama period, in the early seventeenth. It shows a distinctly Korean influence: In the aftermath of Japan's two invasions of the Korean peninsula in the 1590s, sometimes known as the "Pottery Wars," hundreds of Korean potters were resettled within warrior domains in southern Japan. The kilns that they established became important sources of tea-ceremony ceramics and tablewares. Early southern wares like this reflect the shapes, glazes, and decorative techniques of their Korean prototypes.

1602-1615

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with wood-ash and rice-straw-ash glaze

Agano ware

HxWxD: 15.6 x 21.2 x 21.2 cm

F1900.4a-b

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54

North

Momoyama period

Japan

United States

New York

New York

Jar

Jar

Zhangzhou kilns

Freer acquired this Ming dynasty porcelain jar as a gift from his colleague, Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), who, like Freer, made his fortune in the railroad industry. (Born in Illinois, Van Horne established his professional career in British Columbia and is best known for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian transcontinental Railway. Like Freer, Van Horne was a regular customer of the Boston-based dealer Matsuki Bunkyo, from whom he may have purchased this blue and white jar. Originally, the vessel was probably produced as export ware, possibly for Southeast Asian markets.

late 16th-early 17th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Sir William Van Horne

Porcelain with cobalt pigment under clear, colorless glaze

Zhangzhou ware

HxW: 27.2 x 23.9 cm

F1906.18

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2

53

North

Ming dynasty

China

Canada

Montreal

Jar

Jar

The glaze on this Parthian jar was originally green, but by the time that Freer bought it from Dikran Kelekian in 1905, it had decomposed to a whitish color, with a silvery iridescence. Freer acquired six other vessels like this one: typically covered with brown, green or turquoise alkaline glaze, they are characteristic of the wares produced in Mesopotamia from the first through the third centuries BCE.

1st-3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Earthenware with alkaline glaze

HxW: 27.3 x 19.4 cm

F1905.255

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52

North

Parthian period

Iraq

France

Paris

Vessel

Vessel

This "interesting specimen," as Freer described it, was one of several Raqqa pieces that he purchased from Dikran Kelekian in 1905. The crackled, partially disintegrated turquoise glaze was particularly appealing to Freer, who discerned chromatic correspondences between ceramics like this and the contemporary American paintings that he collected.

11th-12th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Dikran G. Kelekian

Stone-paste painted with glaze

HxW: 22.9 x 22.9 cm

F1905.92

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2

51

North

Syria

France

Paris