Baluster-form jar

Jar with pedestal base, tapering body, flattened shoulder, thick neck, and everted mouth with heavy flanged rim.

Wheel thrown from coil attached to flat disk. Base flat, wrinkled texture, center slightly recessed within broad, flat rim around circumference, which shows abrasion. Constructed as a single vessel (not assembled from separately-made parts), with body built directly on hollow pedestal base and neck directly on shoulder. Torqueing of clay visible on interior of pedestal base. Body probably built in several stages, from coils attached to upper edge of vessel in progress. Neck rises off horizontal ledge, tapering inward, then outward in continuous curve, forming corresponding angled ledge above, of same diameter; thick everted rim bends down slightly, beneath upright flange. Extensive kiln debris adhering to shoulder and rim, rim warped, indicating borderline overfiring. (Highest apparent firing temperature of all brown-glazed pieces in Hauge collection.)

Clay: stoneware, medium gray where exposed, reddish on abraded areas on base, lighter gray where revealed by flaking glaze, minute black specks. One pebble braking surface of short column on pedestal base.

Decoration: base trimmed with upright edge, two flanges along surface tapering inward; short cylindrical column; three flanges along surface tapering outward to visual (bottom) of vessel proper (though no break on interior).

On body, two incised thick horizontal lines close together on lower body, roughly incised, with soft wet clay pushed out along edges. Just below shoulder, band of five incised thick horizontal lines. Band decorated with linked diamond motif, produced by repeated impressions of inverted V-shaped die (metal? with thin blades producing fine lines). Two closely-spaced incised thick horizontal grooves. Flattened shoulder filled with scalloped combing, incised with five-toothed combing tool, in open, shallow swags, pointing downward and leaning to left, some arcs overlapping incised grooves at base of neck.

Glaze: iron glaze, translucent dark olive green, darker where pooled along flanges and grooves. Glaze reaches to upfacing surface of pedestal base, spills over in one place. Thin coating of glaze extends partway into neck, overlapped by thicker irregular runs of glaze (caused by interaction of glaze and accumulating ash during firing). No glaze on vessel interior.

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Historical period(s)
Angkor period, 1075-1430
Medium
Stoneware with iron glaze
Dimensions
Diam (mouth): 17.1 cm (6 3/4 in)
Geography
Cambodia or Northeast Thailand
Credit Line
Gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Accession Number
S1996.117
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Jar

Keywords
Angkor period (802 - 1431), brown and black glaze, Cambodia, Hauge collection, stoneware, Thailand
Provenance

From circa 1970-72 to 1996
Mr. and Mrs. Victor Hauge [1]

From 1996
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge in 1996 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file. Most likely acquired from a dealer in Ayutthaya or Bangkok, circa 1970-1972.

[2] Ownership of collected objects sometimes changed between the Hauge families.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge (1914-2004) and (died 2000)

Description

Jar with pedestal base, tapering body, flattened shoulder, thick neck, and everted mouth with heavy flanged rim.

Wheel thrown from coil attached to flat disk. Base flat, wrinkled texture, center slightly recessed within broad, flat rim around circumference, which shows abrasion. Constructed as a single vessel (not assembled from separately-made parts), with body built directly on hollow pedestal base and neck directly on shoulder. Torqueing of clay visible on interior of pedestal base. Body probably built in several stages, from coils attached to upper edge of vessel in progress. Neck rises off horizontal ledge, tapering inward, then outward in continuous curve, forming corresponding angled ledge above, of same diameter; thick everted rim bends down slightly, beneath upright flange. Extensive kiln debris adhering to shoulder and rim, rim warped, indicating borderline overfiring. (Highest apparent firing temperature of all brown-glazed pieces in Hauge collection.)

Clay: stoneware, medium gray where exposed, reddish on abraded areas on base, lighter gray where revealed by flaking glaze, minute black specks. One pebble braking surface of short column on pedestal base.

Decoration: base trimmed with upright edge, two flanges along surface tapering inward; short cylindrical column; three flanges along surface tapering outward to visual (bottom) of vessel proper (though no break on interior).

On body, two incised thick horizontal lines close together on lower body, roughly incised, with soft wet clay pushed out along edges. Just below shoulder, band of five incised thick horizontal lines. Band decorated with linked diamond motif, produced by repeated impressions of inverted V-shaped die (metal? with thin blades producing fine lines). Two closely-spaced incised thick horizontal grooves. Flattened shoulder filled with scalloped combing, incised with five-toothed combing tool, in open, shallow swags, pointing downward and leaning to left, some arcs overlapping incised grooves at base of neck.

Glaze: iron glaze, translucent dark olive green, darker where pooled along flanges and grooves. Glaze reaches to upfacing surface of pedestal base, spills over in one place. Thin coating of glaze extends partway into neck, overlapped by thicker irregular runs of glaze (caused by interaction of glaze and accumulating ash during firing). No glaze on vessel interior.

Published References
  • Louise Allison Cort, George Williams, David P. Rehfuss. Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia. Washington. .
  • Louise Allison Cort, Massumeh Farhad, Ann C. Gunter. Asian Traditions in Clay: The Hauge Gifts. Washington, 2000. cat. 65, p. 106, 119, 147.
  • Louise Allison Cort. Kumeeru touki: Haugi Correkushon wo chushin to shita kumeeru toki no kenkyu [Khmer Ceramics: Research on Khmer Ceramics Centering on the Hauge Collection]. no. 22. cat. 65, p. 165.
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. pp. 208-211.
Collection Area(s)
Southeast Asian Art
Web Resources
Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia
Google Cultural Institute
F|S Southeast Asia
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