Storage Jar with Loop Handles (200s–300s CE): Art, History and Details

Storage Jar with Loop Handles (200s–300s CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The function of this type of large jar remains unknown, yet it is highly likely that it was used to store harvested grains and seeds. The loops on its round shoulder suggest that the jar once had a lid fastened by cords, to strengthen its seal. Below its short neck, the vessel’s entire body is decorated with rows of short vertical and diagonal lines probably created by grooving and impressing the clay.

Object facts

• Title: Storage Jar with Loop Handles
• Date: 200s–300s CE
• Culture: Korea, Gaya period (42–562 CE)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: earthenware with impressed and incised designs
• Dimensions: Diameter: 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.); Overall: 32.1 cm (12 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1989.475

A detail from the museum

This large jar may have used to store harvested grains and seeds.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• E. H. T. "The Year in Review: Selections 1989." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 2 (1990): 38–79.
• Pottery from Ancient Korea: Clay Art for Life and Death [한국고대의토기 : 흙・예술・삶과 죽음]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 1997.
• Gaya Tombs [가야 무덤]. Changwon: Gaya National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, 2007.

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.