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.

Jar

Possibly Buncheong ware

19th century

Joseon period, Edo period, or Meiji era

Stoneware with white slip under clear glaze; lacquer repairs

HxW: 45.4 x 26.4 cm

Korea or Japan

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

75

East

Jar

F1904.147

Siegfried Bing

Paris

France

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1904.147.jpg

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.

Vase

18th-19th century

Qing dynasty, Edo period, or Meiji era

Stoneware with opaque celadon glaze

HxW: 29.1 x 23.1 cm

China or Japan

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

57

North

Vase

F1902.8

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1902.8.jpg