Covered Jar with Horn Handle (400s–500s CE): Art, History and Details

Covered Jar with Horn Handle (400s–500s CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Early earthenware from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE) became widely utilized as agriculture and religion grew to be essential elements in sustaining society and its systems. The clay jars of different sizes and shapes on display were made for the following purposes: some were used to store harvested grains and seeds, some, especially lidded ones such as this example, to preserve cremated remains, and some to serve offerings in rituals.

Object facts

• Title: Covered Jar with Horn Handle
• Date: 400s–500s CE
• Culture: Korea, Silla (57 BC-935) or Kaya (AD 42-562) period
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: red earthenware with impressed designs and applied red slip
• Dimensions: Diameter of mouth: 8.8 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 13.5 x 12 cm (5 5/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1997.21.a

A detail from the museum

Closed kilns built on hillsides became widely used for producing this type of pottery vessel in Korea during the Three Kingdoms period.

Collection credit

Gift of the John D. Proctor Foundation

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.