Vase with crescent-moon and sun-shaped lugs

The sun and moon stand in relief as handles on this Edo-period Japanese stoneware vase. Freer purchased the vase from Tozo Takayanagi in 1902 and noted that the vessel was "very fine." He also noted his disagreement with Matsuki Bunkyo, one of his frequent art dealers and a sometime- adviser on purchases of Asian art and ceramics. "B. Matsuki says Tamba. I say Bizen," Freer wrote. Later scholars have agreed that it is not a Tamba piece, but have fallen short of verifying Freer's account. Its delicate proportions and workmanship, including its iron and ash glazes, suggest the Edo or Meiji period, likely from a kiln in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan, and associated with the historical region of the Buzen or Chikuzen Province. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, the vase stood on a shelf to the right of the room's focal point, La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine.