The Peacock Room Comes to America: South Wall Ceramics

Photograph by George R. Swain.
Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

China, Qing dynasty, 19th century
Stoneware with white slip and cobalt pigment under clear crackled glaze; wooden lid with amethyst knob
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1902.4

When Freer purchased this jar in 1902, its origins were not well understood. He subsequently described it as “rare” and noted, “I feel confident that this unusual specimen is Sung.” It was actually produced in the nineteenth century, and its damaged neck had been ground down and disguised with a wooden lid. The prancing animal and style of painting seem to grow out of a Chinese folk tradition, with the animal resembling the galloping horses drawn with slip on jars from Suzhou, near Shanghai. In the Peacock Room, Freer displayed this jar near other Chinese ceramics, including a green-glazed funeral jar and a white bottle with a touch of green, both dating from the Song dynasty.

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China, Hebei province, Guantai kiln, Cizhou ware
Northern Song dynasty, late 10th–11th century
Stoneware with white slip under clear, colorless glaze; three splashes of copper-green glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1905.79

This bottle, with the distinctive splashes of green along its shoulder, was purchased from the New York shop of Yamanaka and Company. The dealer told Freer that it had been found in Korea and was thought to have been made there. Freer, however, correctly believed that it was Chinese and from the Song dynasty. Accordingly, he displayed it in the Peacock Room in Detroit adjacent to other Song ceramics.

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This pot has been adopted by
Marvin and Pat Gordon

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China, Guangdong province, Shiwan ware
Qing dynasty, 17th–19th century
Stoneware with rice-straw ash glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1898.46

This piece, part of the 1898 sale of the Charles Dana collection, was described in the auction catalogue as “invested with a rich yellow and pale claire de lune glaze, permeated by a double crackle in violet and brown.” Freer circled the entry and noted, “Most perfect.” The reference to claire de lune suggests that Freer and his contemporaries regarded this as an example of Jun ware, which was produced in Henan province of China from the Song dynasty through the fifteenth century. Jun ware is characterized by its distinctive glazes, which range from greenish-blue to lavender and lavender-blue with violet splashes or marks. This bottle is actually a later example of a Jun-style glaze. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this bottle was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Guangdong or Jiangsu province, Shiwan or Yixing ware
Ming or Qing dynasty, 17th century
Stoneware with Jun-style glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1905.306

Freer and his contemporaries regarded this as an example of Jun ware, which was produced in Henan province of China from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. Jun ware is characterized by its distinctive glazes, which range from greenish-blue to lavender and lavender-blue with violet splashes or marks. This dish is actually a later example of a Jun-style glaze. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” it was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Jun ware Yuan dynasty, late 13th–late 14th century
Stoneware with Jun glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1906.28

Traditionally considered one of the five “great wares” of Chinese ceramics, Jun ware was produced at a number of kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this bowl was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Jun ware Yuan dynasty, late 13th–late 14th century
Stoneware with Jun glaze and copper-red splashes
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1905.310

Considered one of the five “great wares” of Chinese ceramics, Jun ware was produced at a number of kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this bowl was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Jun ware Yuan dynasty, late 13th–late 14th century
Stoneware with Jun glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1906.34

Considered one of the five “great wares” of Chinese ceramics, Jun ware was produced at a number of kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this bowl was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Jun ware Yuan dynasty, late 13th–late 14th century
Stoneware with Jun glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1907.73

Described by Charles Freer as “an interesting specimen” that was “strongly modeled and beautifully glazed,” this incense burner was purchased during the collector’s 1907 trip to Japan. It is an example of Jun ware, which was produced at a number of imperial kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this piece was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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This pot has been adopted. For Jody, with love, on our 34th anniversary

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China, Henan province, probably Linru kilns, Jun ware
Northern Song dynasty, 11th–early 12th century
Stoneware with Jun glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1907.38

Freer acquired this planter while in China in 1907. It is an example of Jun ware, which was produced at a number of kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this very fine example was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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This pot has been adopted by
Mr. Gary O. Davis, great-grandson of Whistler patron and subject F.R. Leyland and Rosa Laura Caldecott

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China, Guangdong province, Shiwan ware
Ming dynasty, 16th–mid-17th century
Stoneware with opaque white glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1900.3

Freer purchased this vase, which was produced in China during the Ming dynasty, from the New York branch of Yamanaka and Company. It is molded in the shape of a lotus flower, and the glaze is milky gray and crackled with areas of pale blue. It was no doubt the varied colors of the surface that appealed to Freer, who organized his ceramics in the Peacock Room according to the color harmonies that he appreciated in the paintings of Whistler and the American tonalists.

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China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen
Qing dynasty, 19th century
Stoneware with slip and cobalt pigment beneath clear glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1907.66

Freer purchased this small box during his 1907 trip to China. It is an example of Jingdezhen ware of the type known as jiangtai (soymilk body). Production of this type was at its peak in the early Qing dynasty. This box was originally used for seal paste or possibly cosmetics; some stains remain in the interior. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, Freer displayed it among a large grouping of blue-glazed Jun ware and several strategically placed cream- or white-colored vessels.

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China, Jun ware Yuan dynasty, 1279–1368
Stoneware with Jun glaze with purple splashes
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1905.95

Considered one of the five “great wares” of Chinese ceramics, Jun ware was produced at a number of kilns in Henan province from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the fifteenth century. The distinctive blue colors of the glaze—which can range from greenish-blue to violet—are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs during the firing and cooling process. Variations in tone occur because some areas of the pot are less thickly glazed than others. This chromatic complexity appealed to Freer, who acquired many examples of Jun ware. In the Peacock Room, which Freer called “the blue room,” this jar was one of more than forty Jun or similarly blue-glazed ceramics displayed along the south wall, just beneath Whistler’s allegorical mural of two battling peacocks.

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China, Guangdong province, Shiwan ware
Ming dynasty, 17th century
Stoneware with opaque white glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1896.35

Western connoisseurs who collected Chinese ceramics at the turn of the century knew relatively little about earlier wares. Since the meticulously formed and decorated Qing dynasty porcelains were generally regarded as the culminating achievement of a centuries-old tradition, it was assumed that the earlier wares must be more heavily potted and glazed. Thus, when Freer purchased this vase in 1896, he accepted the Song dynasty date assigned to it, though it is now known to be from the Ming dynasty. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, it was displayed along the south wall, amid more than forty bright blue Jun or “Jun style” ceramics. This lustrous, creamy white vase was one of several similarly toned vessels that Freer seems to have used on the south wall to punctuate the “harmonies in blue” created by the massing of Jun ware around the sideboard.

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China, Guangdong province, Shiwan ware
Qing dynasty, mid-17th–19th century
Stoneware with white slip beneath rice-straw ash glaze
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
F1907.40

This vase—coated inside with white slip and then dipped, inside and out, into rice-straw ash glaze—exhibits a range of blue tonalities on its exterior: cobalt blue where the glaze was thinly applied, pale blue where it was thicker (on the more horizontal surface of the shoulder). Freer purchased it during his 1907 trip to China. The following year, he displayed the vase in the Peacock Room with more than forty pieces of Jun or “Jun style” ware, massed to create a ceramic “harmony in blue” that resonated with Whistler’s interior decoration, whose primary title was “Harmony in Blue and Gold.”

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