Jar with incised and inlaid decoration

Large glazed round jar, with wide mouth, thick out-turned rim and flat base. Creamy gray-white glaze on the exterior and interior, except for the base and interior bottom. Decorated on the exterior with incised lines forming “panels,” within which large floral designs are executed in brown glaze. Two small holes punched through on the upper shoulder of one side.

A wide-mouthed jar with four ornamented panels and a broad, flat base. The decoration is cut into the soft clay through the just-applied raw glaze and painted with iron pigment. The glaze on this jar fired to pale yellow-green.

Historical period(s)
Tran dynasty, 13th-14th century
Medium
Stoneware with translucent greenish-yellow and iron glazes
Dimensions
H: 15 cm (5 7/8 in)
Geography
Vietnam, Hai Duong province, Red River Delta kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — funds provided by the Docents of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1998.10
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Jar

Keywords
flower, stoneware, Tran dynasty (1225 - 1400), Vietnam
Provenance

To 1998
Chao Phraya Gallery, Washington, DC, acquired from an unidentified collector, to 1998 [1]

From 1998
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Chao Phraya Gallery in 1998

Notes:

[1] The Chao Phraya proprietors explained that this object came from the collection of an Australian ambassador to Vietnam around 1982 (see Curatorial Note 11, Louise Cort, December 19, 1997, in the object record).

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Chao Phraya Gallery

Description

Large glazed round jar, with wide mouth, thick out-turned rim and flat base. Creamy gray-white glaze on the exterior and interior, except for the base and interior bottom. Decorated on the exterior with incised lines forming "panels," within which large floral designs are executed in brown glaze. Two small holes punched through on the upper shoulder of one side.

A wide-mouthed jar with four ornamented panels and a broad, flat base. The decoration is cut into the soft clay through the just-applied raw glaze and painted with iron pigment. The glaze on this jar fired to pale yellow-green.

Label

Jars of this type have been excavated from the fifteenth-century layer of the Ba Dinh citadel site in central Hanoi. Their use (suggested by two holes drilled in the shoulder) is not yet understood.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort, George Williams, David P. Rehfuss. Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia. Washington. .
  • Betonamu no toji [Vietnamese Ceramics Exhibition]. Exh. cat. Fukuoka City, Japan. cat. 12.
  • John Stevenson, John Guy, Louise Allison Cort. Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition. Chicago. .
  • Honda Hiromu, Shimazu Noriki. Vietnamese and Chinese Ceramics Used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The Asia Collection Singapore and New York. cat. 7.
  • Helene Fromentin. La Ceramique Vietnamienne de la Donation Maspero au Musee National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet. no. 92. p. 92, fig. 8, 103.
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. pp. 212-213, fig. 1.
Collection Area(s)
Southeast Asian Art
Web Resources
Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia
Google Cultural Institute
F|S Southeast Asia
SI Usage Statement

Usage Conditions Apply

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Request Permission | Terms of Use