Seto and Mino ceramics

264 Pages·1992·24.7 MB·Japanese

by  Cort, Louise Allison, 1944-

Japanese Collections in e Freer Gallery of Art
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Japanese Collections in the Rreer Gallery of Art
and Mino
Seto Ceramics
LOUISE ALLISON CORT
Freer Gallery ofArt
Smithsonian In itu on
Wa
ington, D.C.
D ibutedby
University ofHawaii Press
Honolulu
FREER GALLERYOFART
S
Copyright © 1992 by Smithsonian Institu-
tion
All rights re rved
Cover: No. 49, tea-ceremony waterjarwith
plain rim, Seto ware, Edo period, 17th—
18th century, 98.45
Back cover: No. 31, largeservingdish, Mino
wa Monioyama period, early 17th cen-
tury, 70.31.
PhotographicCredits
Original drawingsforthe maps (pages 11-
13) and figures and 11 werecre-
ated by R. R J. Faulknerand published
in Faulknerand Impey 1 SI: they were
adapted by Molly Ryan foruse in thispubli-
caUon. Ms. Ryanalsoadapted figure4 (from
Seto-shi ekishi Min oku Shiryoyan 1985,
VO 4), figure 6 (from Imai 1981), and fig-
ure 13 (from k6chi 1979). The photo-
graphsforfigure 10 areby SchecterLee,
New York, and reproduced by permission of
Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, New York.
Thephotographsforfigures 16and 17are
provided by and reproduced by permission
oftheTokugawa ArtMuseum, Nagoya.
UbraryofCongress Cataloguing-in-Publica-
Uon D a
Cort, LouiseAllison, 1944-
S 0 and Minoceramics/LouiseAllison
Cor —
p. cm. (Japanesecolleen ns in the Freer
Gallery ofArt) Includes bibliographical
referencesand index. —
ISBN0-82 -1437-1 (alk. paper). isbn 0-
8248-1436-3 —(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. —0 pottery C alogs. 2. Mino pot-
t y Cata—logs. —
3. Pottei*y Washm on (D.C.) —
Catalogs. 4. FreerGalleryofArt C a-
logs. Title. I Series.
NK4168.S4C67 1992
738'.0952'16—dc20 91—31990
ap
mms
The paperused inthispublication the
minimum requiremen fortheAmerican
National Standard forPermanenceofPaper
for imed Library Ma rials, Z39.48-1984.
C
CONTENTS
Foreword Milo C. Beach 6
.
Acknowledgmen 7
Introduction 9
Color Plates 17
Catalogue 49
.
Sue Ware from the Seto-Mino Area 50
2. Sanage Ware 53
3. Medieval S o Ware 56
4 Tokoname Ware 65
5. S 0 and Mino Wares from Sixteenth-Century Great Kilns 68
6. Mino Wares from Early Momoyama-Period Great Kilns 89
7. Mino Wares from Late Momoyama-Period
Multichamber Climbing Kilns 100
8. Edo-Period S 0 and Mino Tea-Ceremony Ceramics 118
9. Oflike Ware 143
10. Rakurakuen Ware 162
11 Tea-Ceremony Ceramics Made by Amateur Potters at Seto-Related Kilns 166
12. Toyoraku Ware 172
13. Edo-Period S 0 and Mino Popular Ceramics 174
14. Nineteenth-Century "Momoyama Revival" amics 194
15. Mino- and S o-Style Ceramics from Other Kilns 207
16. Porcelain 213
Preliminary Study of the Technology of Selected S o and Mino Ceramics
Pamela B. Vandiver 219
Bib ography 230
C alogue Entries in Japanese tr ml n by Sanae lida R ves 233
Concordance of Catalogue and Acce ktn Numb s 248
Index 251
FOREWORD
AT THE TURN OF the last century most Am ican collectors ofA an ceramics sought out
—
fashionably bright and orn e wares whether Chinese blue-and-white
porcelain ofthe Kangxi period (1662-1722) or contemporary Japanese
Imar Satsuma, and Kutani styles ofpottery en usted with gold and mul-
ticolored enamels. Charles Lang Freerwas a rare exception to that p tern,
for he was drawn in ead to the somber grays, browns, and blacks ofEast
Asian stoneware glazes. His attraction to dark and moody glazes accounts
for the unusually large collection ofsuch Seto and Mi o ceramics in the
Freer Gallery ofAit
Freer's e in Asian ceramics was formed through his experience of
CO ecting the paintings ofJames McNeill Whi ler. Not only did Whi !er's
paintings with their titles heralding subdued color harmonies (such as
No time: Blue and Silver o Symphony in Grey) influence Freer's ey but the
artist also actively encouraged Freer's pursuit ofcorresponding Asian ob-
jects. The two went together in 1 01 to the shops ofParis a dealers Sieg-
ied Bing and Hayashi Tadamasa, from whom Freer acquired some ofhis
Seto and Mino pieces. The collector also became acquainted with the aes-
thetic stance ofcertain European critics who favored dark rather than
bright Japanese pottery, and he recognized as well the same endorsement
by the American Orieruali Ernest Feno osa (1853—1908). In is notes
to his collection. Freer used similar vocabulary to describe S o a bowls
and Whistler seascapes.
While S 0 and Mino represent the dark-gla e conservative main-
ream ofChinese-inspired ceramics within Japan, they also embrace,
somewhat paradoxically, the sparkling range ofwhite, green, re yellow,
and lacquer-black glazes fbund on avant-garde ceramics of the e
1
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries Such wares largely lay outside
Freer's e, and it remained to Harold R Stern, director ofthe Freer Gal
1 y ofArt from 1971 to 1977, to develop th side ofthe collection Stern
thus insured the Freer Gallery an exceptionally broad represeruation of
the great diversity ofproducts from two major ceramics centers in Japan
It is highly appropriate tms publication has been made possible by
contributions given to the Freer Gallery in memory ofHarold R Stern The
Stern Fund supports scholarship and publications on Japanese art This
book is the first in a series fvolumes on the Japanese collections in the
Freer Gallery,
MILO C EACH
Director, Freer Gallery ofArt
6