Kenzan-style water jar with crane and fishnet design

Label Text

Dealer Matsuki Bunkyo sold this water jar to Freer in 1898, describing it as a work by the renowned Kyoto ceramist Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) or one of his earliest followers. Edward Sylvester Morse, a noted authority on Japanese art, bluntly informed Freer, "Don't believe Kenzan ever made that in the world"; the vessel is now attributed to a nineteenth-century imitator. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, Freer displayed this jar, with its design of cranes and fishnets, among other vessels featuring figurative surface decorations.

Object Name

Tea ceremony water jar (tomobuta mizusashi)

Ware

Raku ware, unknown workshop

Dated

late 19th century

Period

Meiji era

Medium

Buff clay; white slip, iron pigment under transparent and ochre-colored lead glazes

Dimensions

HxWxD: 18.8 x 21.4 x 21.4 cm

City

Kyoto

Country

Japan

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Iteration

2

Shelf Number

69

Wall

East

Artist

Imitation of Ogata Kenzan

Title

Kenzan-style water jar with crane and fishnet design

Object Number

F1898.52a-b

Freer Source

Matsuki Bunkyo

Freer Source City

Boston

Freer Source State

Massachusetts

Freer Source Country

United States

Image

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1898.52a-b.jpg

Collection

Citation

Imitation of Ogata Kenzan, "Kenzan-style water jar with crane and fishnet design," in The Peacock Room, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Accession No. F1898.52a-b, Item #3164, https://peacockroom.wayne.edu/items/show/3164 (accessed November 21, 2024).