Jar with incised and applied decoration

Object Details

• Description

  A voluptuous form, with trumpet mouth, swelling body, and a broad foot counterbalancing the constricted neck and base. Jewelry-like swags and rosettes made from thin clay coils appliqued over incised and impressed bands at shoulder and lower neck. The grainy, unglazed stoneware clay is gray.

• Label

  Thin clay threads pressed onto this unglazed jar produced a style of relief decoration that also appears in other media in the Ayutthaya period, including bronze images of the crowned Buddha, metal vessels, and lacquered court hats. Whereas museums and collectors acknowledge the importance of unglazed stoneware in Japan, the strong tradition of unglazed stoneware in mainland Southeast Asia has been obscured by a focus on glazed and decorated export wares.

• Provenance

  Early 1960s

  Excavated in situ Bananan, Barangay San Isidro, Puerto Galera municipality, Oriental Mindoro province, Philippines, in the early 1960s [1]

  Early 1960s

  Mr. And Mrs. Napoleon Jamir, purchased in Manila in the early 1960s [2]

  Early 1960s

  Mr. Arturo de Santos, purchased from Mrs. Napoleon Jamir, the Philippines, in the early 1960s [3]

  To about 1995

  Venecio Magbuhos (V.M. Antiques), Ermita, Manila, purchased from Mr. Arturo de Santos, to about 1995 [4]

  About 1995

  John Forbes, Silver Spring, Maryland, purchased from Venecio Magbuhos, about 1995 [5]

  From 1995

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from John Forbes in 1995

  Notes:

  [1] According to a letter from John Forbes to Louise Cort, September 20, 1994 (see Curatorial Note 11 in the object record).

  [2] Napoleon Jamir's wife, whose name is unknown, collected ceramics and operated an antique shop (see Curatorial Note 11 in the object record).

  [3] According to Curatorial Note 11 in the object record.

  [4] See note 3.

  [5] See note 3.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Honoring Friends: Recent Gifts by Members of the Freer and Sackler Galleries (June 10 to November 25, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. and Mrs. Napoleon Jamir

  Arturo de Santos

  Venecio Magbuhos

  John Forbes (born 1943)

• Origin

  Ko Noi kilns or Tao Hai kilns, Si Satchanalai or Phitsanulok, Sukhothai or Phitsanulok province, Thailand

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by Diana Sinkler Clagett, Ellen Walton, Karol K. Rodriguez, Donna L. Collins, and the 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

  1530s, 1400s

• Name

  Forbes, John, Jamir, Napoleon, de Santos, Arturo, Magbuhos, Venecio

• Place

  Tao Hai kilns, Phitsanulok province, Ko Noi kilns, Sukhothai, Si Satchanalai, Thailand, Phitsanulok

• Topic

  Phitsanulok ware, Art, Ayutthaya period (1351 - 1767), Stoneware, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics, Sawankhalok ware

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)