5th century

Jar

Artist/maker unknown

This generously proportioned stoneware jar is from Korea's Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE - 668 CE). Many similar jars, usually made to hold food offerings for the deceased, have been excavated from tombs in the vicinity of Gyeongju, the capital during the Unified Silla Kingdom (668 - 935).

This long-necked jar with a rounded belly was thinly and regularly potted on the wheel. The neck has a double ridge below the lip rim and a single ridge at the bottom of the neck where it joins the body; there is a band of incised undulating lines in between, probably applied with a rolling tool. The shoulder has a decoration of three incised lines alternating with three bands of undulating lines. The base is rounded, with two concave depressions. The metallic sheen on the shoulder is a result of wood ash fusing with the clay during the jar's high temperature kiln firing.