Object details

Object number

CR34n10.1-4

Creator(s)

Japanese

Title

Tea Scoop (Cha-shaku) with Cases and Covers

Date

19th century

Medium

Carved ivory

Dimensions

9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.)

Signatures, inscriptions, and markings

Inscribed in black ink on CR34n10.b or CR34n10.c: Home Country, eighty-two. Inscribed in black ink (CR34n10.b, exterior, side): Two (?) sets of Japanese characters.
Inscribed in black ink on paper (CR34n10.c, lid, exterior): Three (?) sets of Japanese characters.

Provenance

Gift from Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), Japanese art historian and philosopher, to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 11 September 1905.

Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.

Bibliography

William Thrasher and Caroline Graboys. "The Beginnings of Chanoyu in America." Chanoyu Quarterly (1984), pp. 20, 24, 29, 31, ill. (as Japanese)
Sunao Nakamura (ed.). Okakura Kakuzo: Collected English Writings, III (Tokyo, 1984), pp. 61-63, 58-59.
Victoria Weston. East Meets West: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Okakura Kakuzo. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum V. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), p. 28.
Rebecca G. Breslow. "Humanity in a Tea-cup: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Okakura Kakuzo" in Chanoyu Quarterly: Tea and the Arts of Japan, No. 85 (1996), pp. 51-53.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 176-77.
Louise Allison Cort. "Mrs. Gardner's 'Set of Tea-Things.' A Vehicle for Friendship, Power, & Aesthetic Instruction" in Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 385-86, 389, fig. 4. (as probably 19th century)

Gallery

Chinese Room

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