Object Details
Description
American, 20th century, Early Pewabic
Bowl, small, deep
Clay: dense
Glaze: mingled green and gray, with a high golden iridescence.
Inscriptions
- Rectangular sticker affixed to base of vessel, "2355" printed in black ink
- Rectangular sticker affixed to base of vessel, "3588" printed in black ink
- Round sticker affixed to base of vessel, "Pewabic Detroit" printed in black ink, "450 14" written in pencil in center
- Round sticker affixed to base of vessel, "Pewabic Detroit" printed in black ink, "450 14" written in pencil in center
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, Michigan, 1912 [1]
1912-1920
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See receipt from Pewabic Pottery to Charles L. Freer, August 7, 1912 (received August 12, 1912), Box 119, Folder 4, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC copy in object file. On the receipt, there is an annotation next to the object's description, noting "no charge."
[2] See voucher No. 10, August 9, 1912, Box 119, Folder 4, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC copy in object file.
[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.
Research completed July 28, 2022.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Painting with Fire (October 21, 2018 to July 7, 2019)
Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision (February 23, 2008 to August 1, 2010)
Pewabic Pottery (November 20, 1979 to March 5, 1981)
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
F1912.103
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Vessel
Medium
Glazed clay
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 5.4 x 9.8 cm (2 1/8 x 3 7/8 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_F1912.103