Object Details
Description
American, 20th century, Early Pewabic
Bowl: small, deep
Clay: dense, thickly molded
Glaze: copper-red, with grayish and yellowish areas: iridescent.
Label
The Pewabic Pottery was a ceramics workshop in Detroit established at the turn of the century. The primary aesthetic interest of its founder, Mary Chase Perry Stratton, was the art of glazing, or "painting with fire." Stratton's friend and patron Charles Lang Freer fostered her efforts by providing fragments of ancient Asian pots to emulate. Her mature works are clearly inspired by the surfaces and shapes of ceramics in Freer's collection, particularly the Islamic pottery known as Raqqa ware, with its distinctive iridescence. The surfaces also resonate with paintings in Freer's collection by James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Dewing, and Dwight Tryon.
Provenance
To 1912
Pewabic Pottery, Detroit MI, to 1912 [1]
From 1912 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pewabic Pottery in 1912 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] Object file. Present location of voucher unknown.
[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
Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision (February 23, 2008 to August 1, 2010)
American Paintings: Abbott Handerson Thayer 1849-1921 (December 11, 1976 to April 18, 1977)
Previous custodian or owner
Pewabic Pottery (established 1903) (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Date
ca. 1912
Accession Number
F1912.101
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Vessel
Medium
Glazed clay
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 8.6 x 3.9 cm (3 3/8 x 1 9/16 in)
Style
Pewabic ware
Origin
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Related Online Resources
Google Arts & Culture
See more items in
National Museum of Asian Art
Data Source
National Museum of Asian Art
Topic
iridescence
ceramic
Pewabic ware
United States
glazed
American Art
Charles Lang Freer collection
Link to Original Record
Record ID
fsg_F1912.101