Bottle

17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 10.8 x 11.6 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

217.2

West

Bottle

F1903.4

American Art Association

New York

New York

United States

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Bottle

18th-19th century

Qajar period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 15.0 x 12.0 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

217

West

Bottle

F1903.3

American Art Association

New York

New York

United States

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This small vase from seventeenth-century Iran was part of a group of blue-glazed ceramics that the Paris-based dealer Dikran G. Kelekian shipped to Freer on approval in the fall of 1904, shortly after the Peacock Room had arrived in Detroit. Described by Freer as a "beautiful small specimen," the stonepaste body of this vessel is covered with a colorless transparent glaze on the interior and at the rim and a cobalt blue glaze on the exterior. Although the glazes are degraded, traces of decoration—a floral design painted in black outline over the glaze—remain faintly visible.

Vase

17th century?

Stone-paste with cobalt blue and colorless transparent alkali-silicate glazes, traces of decoration

HxW: 10.1 x 7.9 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

211

West

Vase

F1904.52

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Bowl

1650-1700

Safavid period

Stone-paste decorated with lustre over darl blue glaze

HxWxD: 8.7 x 18.9 x 4.1 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

197

West

Bowl

F1908.115

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Pitcher

14th century

Stone-paste decorated with glaze

HxW: 28.3 x 18.8 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

187

West

Pitcher

F1905.287

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Dish

12th century?

Stone-paste painted underglaze

HxW: 5.1 x 20.2 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

160

West

Dish

F1903.193

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Described by Freer as "important and rare," this turquoise-colored bowl was believed to be Mesopotamian, an example of so-called Raqqa ware. It is now recognized as Iranian in origin. Encouraged by the Paris-based art dealer Dikran Kelekian, Freer became an avid collector of medieval and ancient Near Eastern ceramics, eventually amassing a substantial collection. In Detroit they were prominently featured throughout the Peacock Room, most notably massed around La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine and in the eye-level shelves along the west wall.

Bowl

1169-1233

Saljuq period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 14.2 x 19.1 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

157

West

Bowl, octagonal; bold spreading foot; broken and repaired

F1906.40

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Jar

Glazed clay

HxW: 17.2 x 18.0 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

156

West

Jar

F1906.41

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Tile

14th century

Il-Khanid period

Stone-paste, molded and painted under glaze

HxW: 2.2 x 23.8 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

151

West

Tile

F1903.200

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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When Freer displayed this fourteenth-century Iranian tile in the Peacock Room in Detroit in 1908, he placed it alongside an array of other Near Eastern tiles and ceramic vessels, all with a variety of blue glazes. He had become interested in Near Eastern pottery in 1902 and went on to purchase a great number of such specimens from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian. This Iranian ceramic—in the design of an eight-pointed star—has been attributed to the Il-Khanid dynasty (1256-1353) in Rhages, in the province of Tehran.

Tile

14th century

Il-Khanid period

Stone-paste painted underglaze

HxW: 2.0 x 20.2 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

148.1

West

Tile

F1904.288

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Tile

14th century

Il-Khanid period

Stone-paste molded and painted under glaze

HxW: 2.1 x 20.3 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

148

West

Tile

F1903.228

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Jar

19th century?

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 27.3 x 18.0 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

146

West

Jar

F1902.197

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Bottle

17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 32.1 x 18.0 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

145

West

Bottle

F1906.14

J. Spier

London

England

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Of all the pieces Freer chose to display on the shelves of his Peacock, or Blue, Room, this large shallow "dish on a low foot" most closely references the original blue and white china which appeared in the room's original incarnation in London. This ornately patterned Safavid dish was not typical of the Asian ceramics Freer was attracted to, or indeed collected. In his object notes, he wrote about the piece, "For comparative study only." He purchased it from the Paris dealer, D.G. Demotte, of whom not much is known. What is clear, however, is that Freer selected this Iranian bowl of the Safavid period for inclusion among his other items of Near Eastern and Asian ceramics-perhaps to highlight, through contrast, the formal and chromatic qualities of the less decorated, more subtly colored surfaces of the rest of his collection.

Dish

late 17th-early 18th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 6.7 x 34.0 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

71

East

Dish on a low foot

F1904.151

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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.

Bottle

17th-18th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted under glaze

HxW: 25.3 x 14.4 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

66.1

East

Bottle

F1903.196

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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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.

Dish

18th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste, pierced and painted under glaze

HxW: 5.8 x 18.2 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

66

East

Dish

F1903.6

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Some of the distinctive characteristics of this seventeenth century Iranian bowl include its red luster paint with metallic reflections, a "piercing" on one foot, and a slightly cracked rim. The imperfection, a sign of the vessel's antiquity, may have been part of its appeal to Freer, who considered it "rare and important." He purchased this stone-paste bowl from Dikran Kelekian as part of a group acquisition in 1903. In 1908, he displayed it in the Peacock Room with a grouping of similar bowls, on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway.

Bowl

17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted in lustre over glaze

HxW: 9.5 x 18.5 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

3

North

Bowl

F1903.225

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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Freer purchased this late seventeenth-century Iranian bowl from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian in 1903, likely as part of a group acquisition of similar ceramic objects. Freer called this piece a "beautiful specimen," and thought it related closely in design to some of his other purchases from that dealer. Perhaps because of this, when Freer displayed the vessel in the Peacock Room in Detroit, he placed it in close proximity to those similar items, on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway.

Bowl

2nd half of the 17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted with lustre

HxW: 9.3 x 18.4 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

2

North

Bowl

F1903.7

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

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