Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Large jar with rounded body and elongated neck.

  Assembled from paddle-and-anvil--formed body, wheel-thrown neck. Shoulder also smoothed by means of wheel, as shown by presence of closely spaced horizontal marks. Lower body, an irregular hemisphere, shows traces of diagonal scraping and smoothing.

  Clay: fine stoneware, made irregularly gray on surface by process of smudging at the conclusion of firing. Some adhesions of earth.

  Decoration: the elongated and somewhat flaring neck divided into three tiers by pairs of "bowstring" lines, probably applied with a die; the central and lowest tiers filled by triangles outlined with a four-tooth comb and each enclosing one dotted circle, perhaps incised with a compass. The seam between the neck and shoulder marked by a squared coil of clay. The shoulder defined by a "bowstring" line bordered on each side by a channel. Above the shoulder line, a narrow band outlined by two parallel incised lines and filled by triangles incised with a four-tooth comb. The shoulder line forms the upper defining line of a wider band (the lower edge a single incised line) also filled by triangles incised with a four-tooth comb, with each triangle whose base rests on the lower line enclosing one dotted circle.

• Provenance

  From early 1960s to 1985

  Rear Adm. George Washington Pressey (died 1966) and Elizabeth Lee Berger (1913-2002), Washington, DC [1]

  From 1985

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Elizabeth Lee Berger, January 3, 1985 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] According to information in the object's record, the vessel was acquired in Korea by Mrs. Berger and her first husband, Rear Adm. George Washington Pressey (died 1966), when they were posted there in the early 1960s.

  [2] See Invoice, issued by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Berger (Mrs. Samuel D. Berger), signed and dated 3 January 1985, copy in object file.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Korean Ceramics (February 4, 1997 to August 7, 2011)

  Korean Ceramics of the Koryo Dynasty (May 9, 1993 to August 7, 2011)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mrs. Elizabeth Lee Berger (1913-2002)

• Origin

  Gyeongsang-do province, Korea

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s, 400s

• Name

  Berger, Elizabeth Lee

• Place

  Gyeongsang-do province, Korea

• Topic

  Unglazed, Art, Stoneware, Korean Art, Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE - 676 CE)

• Culture

  Koreans

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)