Object Details
- Description
- Pillow in the form of a tortoise, head turned upward, the feet shown in paddling motion. The carapace hexagonal plates are modelled, the divisions incised. The shell is surmounted by a narrow concave head-rest with lobed ends and a small hole in the center, on a base decorated with a carved scroll. This element, the head, tail, and legs were separately applied. The skin folds below the carapace are modelled. A hole was made in the unglazed flat base near the tail end. A brown iron oxide wash covers the base, the "chocolate base" common on Vietnamese ceramics. There is a repaired break at one end of the head-rest, which is seen on the underside.
- Clay: dense, light gray stoneware.
- Glaze: clear, bubbled, slightly crackled over white slip and iron painting. Some glaze separation, particularly on areas where appendages and superstructure were attached. No glaze on top of head-rest. A line of paint on a strip of slip shows indistinctly around its edge. Small glaze chip on edge of head-rest. Some glaze worn off on claws of three of the feet.
- Decoration: paired iron-oxide brush strokes on each plate of carapace and other iron brown underglaze details, e.g., wrinkles on the animal's neck.
- With wooden stand.
- Label
- A tortoise raises its head and paddles its feet as it supports the headrest of a pillow. This form might represent the mythical golden turtle Kim Quy, a supernatural creature believed to protect the Vietnamese people. The white glaze, nearly opaque because of underfiring, conceals details painted in iron pigment.
- Pillow forms are rare in Vietnamese ceramics. This pillow was recovered in 1943 from the ruins of an ancient Buddhist monastery along the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Provenance
- 1943
- Excavated in Bangkok in 1943 [1]
- To 1985
- Dean Frasché, Greenwich, CT, to 1985 [2]
- From 1985
- Freer Gallery of Art, given by Dean Frasché in 1985
- Notes:
- [1] The object was found during the removal of the ruins of an ancient Buddhist wat on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, some 700 meters south of the present Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand (see Curatorial Note 1, J.H. Knapp, 1986, in object record).
- According to the donor (his information having come from the Thai-Chinese gentleman from whom he acquired the piece), the abandoned wat where the object was found was demolished and the site excavated in the process of building an unloading dock; the name of the wat was not recorded (see Curatorial Note 2, L.A. Cort, 1986, in object record).
- [2] See note 1.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Vietnam's Ceramics: Depth and Diversity (July 11, 2015 - July 10, 2016)
- Vietnamese Ceramics from the Red River Delta (July 10, 2005 to November 15, 2009)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Dean F. Frasche (1906-1994)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dean Frasché
- late 14th-15th century
- Period
- Tran or Later Le dynasty
- Accession Number
- F1985.37a-b
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Furniture and Furnishing
- Medium
- Stoneware with iron pigment under translucent (underfired) glaze, iron pigment on base
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 9.8 x 12.1 x 16.7 cm (3 7/8 x 4 3/4 x 6 9/16 in)
- Origin
- Red River Delta kilns, Hai Duong province, Vietnam
- Related Online Resources
- Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia
- Google Arts & Culture
- NMAA Southeast Asia
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Topic
- ceramic
- tortoise
- Vietnam
- Tran dynasty (1225 - 1400)
- Later Le dynasty (1428 - 1527)
- stoneware
- Southeast Asian Art
- Record ID
- fsg_F1985.37a-b
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3c29c5ce1-3900-43bb-b40f-3a923d6a6fb2
