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Storage Jar
late 1300s–1400s
- Medium
- Stoneware with natural ash glaze (Shigaraki ware)
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Dimensions
- height: 45.7 cm (18 in.); Diameter: 42 cm (16 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The red color of this jar comes from iron in the clay. Natural ash glaze settled on the vessel during firing. The rim would have been complete with a slightly flared lip. Around the collar is an incised pattern resembling cypress fences, a common scene in the Japanese landscape. Intended for grain storage, rustic vessels like this one were also prized by tea enthusiasts, who appreciated the uncalculated beauty of the glaze and the asymmetry of these humble vessels.
