Storage Jar (1500s): Art, History and Details

Storage Jar (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Shigaraki ware is produced in the Shigaraki area of Shiga prefecture to the east of Kyoto in the Kansai region. The clay from Shigaraki has a warm orange color. When fired in an anagama kiln, a type of wood-fired kiln that uses the oxidization process, the free flow of air allows for the appearance of the ash and mineral glazes that characterize the works. Shigaraki storage jars like this one, a tsubo, have been popular for storing tea leaves since the Muromachi period.

Object facts

• Title: Storage Jar
• Date: 1500s
• Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Stoneware with natural ash glaze (Shigaraki ware)
• Dimensions: Diameter: 28.3 cm (11 1/8 in.); Overall: 34 cm (13 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 2015.505

Collection credit

Gift from the Collection of George Gund III

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.