Figure of a bodhisattva

When Freer purchased this unglazed bodhisattva figure from Yamanaka and Company in 1905, he noted on the invoice, "It is said the maker was a Chinese priest and that he presented it to a Japanese temple in the 16th century." Yamanaka had acquired the piece from the Thomas Waggaman sale, where it was part of a long run of "miscellaneous" Japanese ceramics. Later, in his inventory notes, Freer seemed to reject his earlier idea about the figure and commented, "We have no record of the age or place of manufacture of this specimen. It is, however, Chinese and I fancy not later than early Ming." The date of this piece remains a mystery: it is attributed to the Ming or Qing dynasty, dating to the fifteenth through the nineteenth century.