Object details
Object number
CR34n9.a-b
Creator(s)
Japanese, Kyoto
Title
Incense Case (Kogo): Badger
Date
19th century
Medium
Ceramic with red raku glaze (clear glaze over red slip)
Dimensions
6 x 5.4 cm (2 3/8 x 2 1/8 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscription (on the object's box): attributes the incense case to Raku Kichibei (Donyu 1599-1658), made during an outing to eastern Kyoto [probably false]
Provenance
Gift from Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), Japanese art historian and philosopher, to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 11 September 1905.
Commentary
The inscription on the box attributing the container to Raku Kichibei (Donyu, 1599-1658), made during an outing to eastern Kyoto, is probably invented.
Source: Louise Allison Cort, "Mrs. Gardner's 'Set of Tea-Things', A Vehicle for Friendship, Power, and Aesthetic Instruction," in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 384.
Bibliography
William Thrasher and Caroline Graboys. "The Beginnings of Chanoyu in America." Chanoyu Quarterly (1984), pp. 20, 24, 27, 29-35, ill. (attributed to Raku Kichibei (1599-1658), as dated about 1650)
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, ill.
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. 384-86, fig. 1. (as Japanese, as dated 19th century)
Gallery
Chinese Room
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