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Incense box in the shape of a turtle

Object Details

Description
Buff clay, flushing orange where glaze is thick or wiped off. Incised and modeled details. Yellow ash glaze, crackled.
Mark. Cipher (kao) written in clear brown lacquer on underside of lid.
Inscriptions
Inside the lid is a cipher written in clear amber lacquer. The cipher has not been identified.
Provenance
To 1902
Samuel Colman (1832-1920), New York, NY, and Newport, RI, to 1902 [1]
From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased at the sale of the Samuel Colman Collection, American Art Association, New York, March 19-22, 1902 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1154, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Samuel Colman was collecting Asian objects by at least 1880 (see Curatorial Remark 10, Louise Cort, April 20, 2007, in the object record).
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Freer: A Taste for Japanese Art (July 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007)
Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons in Japanese Art (September 14, 1977 to April 8, 1978)
Previous custodian or owner
Samuel Colman (1832-1920)
American Art Association (established 1883) (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Data Source
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Date
1840-1860
Period
Edo period
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Medium
Stoneware with wood-ash glaze
Dimensions
H x W x D: 2.7 x 5.6 x 7.8 cm (1 1/16 x 2 3/16 x 3 1/16 in)
Style
Ofuke ware
Type
Container
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