Dish with design of phoenix and peony

Dish

Zhangzhou kilns

The Peacock Room, originally the dining room in the home of Frederick R. Leyland, was intended to showcase its owner's extensive collection of Chinese blue-and -white porcelain. Among his 300-plus pieces were examples similar to this vessel. Known as Kangxi ware, these pots were produced in the Jingdezhen region during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722). They became so popular with Victorian consumers that the press mockingly dubbed the craze "Chinamania." <p>When Charles Lang Freer purchased the Peacock Room in London in 1904, it had already been emptied of its blue-and-white porcelains. Freer, in any case, did not care for their slick surfaces and bright glazes. Beginning in the 1980s, the Freer Gallery of Art began to acquire blue-and-whites for display in the Peacock Room, in an effort to evoke the chromatic relationships and pictorial patterns that inspired Whistler and his contemporaries.

late 16th-early 17th century

Gift of Joan Lebold and Jerome A. Cohen

Porcelain with cobalt decoration under clear, colorless glaze

Zhangzhou ware

HxWxD: 4.8 x 28.9 x 28.9 cm

F1991.47

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1

169

West

Ming dynasty

China

Jar with five loop handles and relief floral vinescroll decoration

Jar

Zhangzhou kilns

16th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Yamanaka and Co.

Stoneware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

Zhangzhou ware

HxW: 23.5 x 23.1 cm

F1902.204

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2

136

West

Ming dynasty

China

United States

New York

New York

Vase

Vase

Zhangzhou kilns

Freer purchased this Qing dynasty vase from the sale of the Samuel Colman collection just after the turn of the twentieth century; he believed it was a much older specimen, dating to the Song dynasty. Western connoisseurs who collected Chinese ceramics at the turn of the century knew relatively little about earlier wares. Since the meticulously formed and decorated Qing dynasty porcelains were generally regarded as the culminating achievement of a centuries-old tradition, it was assumed that wares like this cream-colored stoneware vase&#151;more heavily potted and glazed-were from an earlier, less sophisticated period of production.

mid 17th-19th century

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

American Art Association

Stoneware with white slip under clear glaze

Zhangzhou ware

HxW: 21.4 x 10.9 cm

F1902.86

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2

84

East

Qing dynasty

China

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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53

North

Ming dynasty

China

Canada

Montreal