1712-ca. 1731

Ogata Kenzan, (Japanese, 1663-1743)
Edo period

Buff clay with cobalt pigment under transparent glaze; gold lacquer repairs
H: 6.1 W: 8.0 D: 8.0 cm
Kyoto, Japan

Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1898.440

The overall composition suggests a handscroll wrapped around the vessel. The poem, appropriate to the high-minded flavor of the mountain retreat, may be paraphrased thus:

Indifferent to expense, they built a lofty golden terrace,
Settled here in seclusion, my mind has turned to ashes.

The poem alludes to a well-known series of linked verses called Jingqiu langu (Reflections on Jingqiu) composed by Chen Ziang (661–702).

The absence of glaze on the interior shows the vessel was made not as a tea bowl but as an incense burner. It has been suggested that the use of the character "ash," connoting "extinction," at the end of the poem relates to the use of this piece as an incense burner (the incense is laid over a bed of ash). The harmonization of visual and literary imagery with actual deployment is a fitting example of the first Kenzan's total approach.