Fresh-Water Jar thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 145

Fresh-Water Jar

1600-1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

With its exploitation of chance effects, rough textures and controlled irregularity, this jar is characteristic of a strand in Japanese ceramics particularly associated with the tea ceremony, for use in which it was intended.

The jar was acquired, like many of the V&A's best tea ceramics, from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. The previous year the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) had paid £1,000 to the Exposition's Japanese commissioners to make a selection of ceramics 'to give fully the history of the art.' At nine shillings (45p), this jar was relatively inexpensive, reflecting the low value attached to historical tea wares at a time of extreme adulation of the West.

The jar was made in Bizen, one of the first areas to make purpose-made tea wares in the late sixteenth century. Prior to that, ceramics from China, Korea and South-East Asia had been prized, as had some native Japanese ceramics. The latter included earlier Bizen and Shigaraki wares originally made for alternative purposes but adopted by tea aficionados for tea ceremony use. This jar would have been used to contain cold water, which was used to top up water heated in a cast-iron kettle. It embodies both the taste for the simple and restrained characteristic of the 'wabi' tea aesthetic championed by the tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) and the taste for the bold and exuberant characteristic of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), a follower of Rikyu who succeeded his teacher as leading tea master of the day and was particularly active in commissioning tea wares from different Japanese kilns.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, thrown and partially sculpted, with natural ash glaze
Brief description
Fresh-water jar, stoneware with natural ash glaze; Japan, Bizen, 1600-1700
Physical description
Wide-mouthed jar with upright sides and wide inverted lip; reddish brown clay with patches of ochre green natural ash glaze, scorch marks and sculpted surface detailing; two stamped seals on base
Dimensions
  • Height: 16.5cm
  • Diameter: 17.8cm
Dimesnions from registers
Styles
Object history
Purchased from the Japanese Commissioners for the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, accessioned in 1877. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Association
Summary
With its exploitation of chance effects, rough textures and controlled irregularity, this jar is characteristic of a strand in Japanese ceramics particularly associated with the tea ceremony, for use in which it was intended.

The jar was acquired, like many of the V&A's best tea ceramics, from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. The previous year the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) had paid £1,000 to the Exposition's Japanese commissioners to make a selection of ceramics 'to give fully the history of the art.' At nine shillings (45p), this jar was relatively inexpensive, reflecting the low value attached to historical tea wares at a time of extreme adulation of the West.

The jar was made in Bizen, one of the first areas to make purpose-made tea wares in the late sixteenth century. Prior to that, ceramics from China, Korea and South-East Asia had been prized, as had some native Japanese ceramics. The latter included earlier Bizen and Shigaraki wares originally made for alternative purposes but adopted by tea aficionados for tea ceremony use. This jar would have been used to contain cold water, which was used to top up water heated in a cast-iron kettle. It embodies both the taste for the simple and restrained characteristic of the 'wabi' tea aesthetic championed by the tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) and the taste for the bold and exuberant characteristic of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), a follower of Rikyu who succeeded his teacher as leading tea master of the day and was particularly active in commissioning tea wares from different Japanese kilns.
Bibliographic reference
Augustus Wollaston Franks and M. Shioda, Japanese Pottery. [London]: Chapman & Hall Ltd., 1880. South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks; 18. Catalogue number 29
Collection
Accession number
188-1877

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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