Tomb jar

Tomb jar

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Porcelain with transparent pale-blue (qingbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 71.9 x 18.8 cm

F1903.235a-b

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2

214

West

Southern Song or Yuan dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This tall slender tomb jar from the Southern Song dynasty is one of eight such elaborately decorated vessels that Freer displayed as pairs in the Peacock Room in Detroit. He purchased this example from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company, and he was told it and other "specimens of this kind" had been "recovered from ancient Buddhist tombs" in Korea. It is now known to be Chinese in origin and to date to the thirteenth century. Originally an accoutrement of burial in both China and Korea, it would have been paired with another jar of the same shape, both of which would have held funeral offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Porcelain with transparent pale-blue (qingbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 48.4 x 16.5 cm

F1906.252

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2

207

West

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 33.6 x 26.6 cm

F1905.84

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2

199

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 37.6 x 27.9 cm

F1906.247

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2

198

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Porcelain with transparent pale-blue (qingbai) glaze.

Qingbai ware

HxW: 49.1 x 17.1 cm

F1906.251

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2

191

West

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 38.0 x 26.3 cm

F1905.89

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2

176

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 43.2 x 35.0 cm

F1900.45

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2

169

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

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 textured, iridescent silvery-green surface. Around the same time that he purchased the jar, he was also acquiring 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: 38.5 x 30.4 cm

F1905.82

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2

143

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

An oxidized, iridescent patina resulting from disintegration of the glaze adds to the surface complexity of this Eastern Han dynasty tomb jar. Dated to first- to the early-third-century China, it was purchased by Freer in 1905, from the New York store of Yamanaka and Company. He was probably less interested in its cultural origins than in its aesthetic qualities, which he believed harmonized with the tonalism of his American paintings.

early 1st-early 3rd century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

HxW: 14.2 x 17.5 cm

F1905.88

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2

129

West

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with celadon glaze

Longquan-type ware

HxW: 39.4 x 15.5 cm

F1903.232

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2

121

South

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This slender tomb jar dating to the Southern Song dynasty in the thirteenth century is one of a dozen similar funeral wares purchased by Freer from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, it was displayed as a pair with another Southern Song tomb jar with a similar crackled, gray-green celadon glaze. The two vessels were symmetrically arranged on the top shelves of what is now the south wall, flanking Whistler's mural of fighting peacocks.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with celadon glaze

Longquan-type ware

HxW: 40.1 x 14.8 cm

F1903.233

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2

90

South

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

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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2

81

East

Eastern Han dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This tall slender tomb jar from the Southern Song dynasty is one of eight such elaborately decorated vessels that Freer displayed as pairs in the Peacock Room in Detroit. He purchased this example from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company, and he was told that it and other "specimens of this kind" had been "recovered from ancient Buddhist tombs" in Korea. While that was probably true, this particular jar is now known to be Chinese in origin and to date to the thirteenth century. Originally an accoutrement of burial in China as well as Korea, it would have been paired with another jar of the same shape, both of which would have held funeral offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Porcelain with bluish transparent (qingbai) glaze

Qingbai ware

HxW: 36.3 x 11.3 cm

F1904.321

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2

39

North

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This tall slender tomb jar from the Southern Song dynasty is one of eight such elaborately decorated vessels that Freer displayed as pairs in the Peacock Room in Detroit. He purchased this example from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company, and he was told that it and other "specimens of this kind" had been "recovered from ancient Buddhist tombs" in Korea. While that was probably true, this particular jar is now known to be Chinese in origin and to date to the thirteenth century. Originally an accoutrement of burial in China as well as Korea, it would have been paired with another jar of the same shape, both of which would have held funeral offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with celadon glaze

Longquan ware

HxW: 47.9 x 17.5 cm

F1906.250

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1906.250.jpg

2

20

North

Southern Song dynasty

Longquan

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This tall slender tomb jar from the Southern Song dynasty is one of eight such elaborately decorated vessels that Freer displayed as pairs in the Peacock Room in Detroit. He purchased this example from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company, and he was told that it and other "specimens of this kind" had been "recovered from ancient Buddhist tombs" in Korea. While that was probably true, this particular jar is now known to be Chinese in origin and to date to the thirteenth century. Originally an accoutrement of burial in China as well as Korea, it would have been paired with another jar of the same shape, both of which would have held funeral offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Porcelain with bluish transparent (qingbai) glaze.

Qingbai ware

HxW: 36.7 x 11.0 cm

F1905.91

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1905.91.jpg

2

18

North

Southern Song dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Tomb jar

Tomb jar

This tall slender tomb jar from the Southern Song dynasty is one of eight such elaborately decorated vessels that Freer displayed as pairs in the Peacock Room in Detroit. He purchased this example from the New York gallery of Yamanaka and Company, and he was told that it and other "specimens of this kind" had been "recovered from ancient Buddhist tombs" in Korea. While that was probably true, this particular jar is now known to be Chinese in origin and to date to the thirteenth century. Originally an accoutrement of burial in China as well as Korea, it would have been paired with another jar of the same shape, both of which would have held funeral offerings of grain meant to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

13th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with celadon glaze

Longquan ware

HxW: 55.6 x 15.6 cm

F1906.249

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1906.249.jpg

2

6

North

Southern Song dynasty

Longquan

China

United States

New York

New York