Object Details
Description
Jar, tall, ovoid
Clay: fairly soft
Glaze: orange-red with overflow of greenish-cream; high purplish iridescence.
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 1914
Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI [1]
1914-1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Pewabic Pottery [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] Freer purchased the object on June 1, 1914 from Pewabic Pottery. See invoice from Pewabic Pottery, June 1, 1914, where the object is described as "1 pink jar," copy in object file.
[2] See note 1. In the inventory Freer and his associates prepared for the Smithsonian Institution, the object is described as "One Tall, Ovoid Jar, with short neck and small mouth... Lustrous pink glaze, with rich cream-colored overflow around neck and shoulder." See 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 October 31, 2022.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Connecting Stories at the National Museum of Asian Art (April 29, 2023 - ongoing)
Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision (February 23, 2008 to August 1, 2010)
Winter into Spring: American Landscapes (March 4, 1982 to June 1, 1982)
Pewabic Pottery (November 20, 1979 to March 5, 1981)
American Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels (December 11, 1976 to March 24, 1977)
American Paintings (April 15, 1975 to December 5, 1975)
Drawings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to April 14, 1975)
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. 1914
Accession Number
F1914.117
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Vessel
Medium
Glazed clay
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 32.1 x 22 cm (12 5/8 x 8 11/16 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_F1914.117