Jar (25–220 CE): Art, History and Details

Jar (25–220 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

One of the enduring centers of Chinese ceramic production is located in the province of Zhejiang. The great refinement and subtle beauty of the early southeastern stonewares is clearly illustrated in this large storage jar. The jar was constructed in two sections using different potting techniques undetectable in the seamless profile. Visible ridges on the interior suggest that the lower two-thirds was built from coils of clay that were pressed smooth. Above the broad shoulders, the piece was finished on the wheel. The join is masked on the exterior by sensitively stamped waffle patterns presumably applied while the pot was leather hard and still on a wheel. The stamps are neatly placed and variously spaced, impressed with differing degrees of pressure so that they fade into the smooth, tight skin of the pot.

Object facts

• Title: Jar
• Date: 25–220 CE
• Culture: China, Zhejiang province, Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: stoneware with impressed decoration
• Dimensions: Diameter of mouth: 23.2 cm (9 1/8 in.); Overall: 36 cm (14 3/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Han Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1989.1

A detail from the museum

This jar was likely designed to contain wine, a function supported by the short projecting lip that would have helped secure tops on the jars.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review: Selections 1989.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 2 (February 1990): 38–78.
• Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (October 1994): 270–347.

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.