Cylindrical jar with lid

Cylindrical jar with flat lid overlapping upright flange on body.

Wheel-thrown, seemingly from coil attached to upper edge of flat disk; light in proportion to size. Base flat, smooth, abraded around circumference. Cylindrical body rising from narrow base to widest diameter just below rim. Incurving flange to support lid. Cap-shaped lid wheel-thrown upside-down as nearly flat-bottomed dish with low, straight sides; throwing spiral remains in center of underside beneath knob (which was probably added as separate piece of clay to lid turned upright, then thrown). Top of lid rises slightly to central knob, shaped like flattened “jewel.” Lid heavy in proportion to size. Differences in clay, decor, and glaze suggest that body and lid did not originally match.

(1) Body

Clay: stoneware, reddish-brown where exposed, gray where revealed by glaze losses.

Decoration: Deep bevel above base, with additional clay trimmed from lower half of bevel. Single horizontal incised line. Band of scalloped combing (using five-toothed combing tool), irregularly spaced, pointing downward and leaning right. Pair of incised horizontal lines creating narrow flange. Single incised horizontal line. Band of scalloped combing, wider than band below (using seven-toothed combing tool), irregularly spaced, pointing upward, leaning right. Pair of incised horizontal lines.

Glaze: iron glaze, translucent mottled amber brown. One vertical dark “stripe” of glaze where glaze coats may have overlapped as vessel was rolled sideways in vat of glaze. Glaze ends messily at base and seems to have been partially wiped away; where very thin, the glaze has flaked off. Flange and interior of vessel unglazed.

(2) Lid

Clay: stoneware, dark gray where exposed, lighter gray where revealed by flaking glaze.

Decoration: on side and upper edge of lid, cross-hatched band created by incising closely-spaced horizontal lines, then overlaying with colsely-spaced vertical lines. At base of knob, scalloped single line, ends pointing outward; raised flat shelf incised with radiating straight lines; raised flat shelf supporting “jewel”-shaped flattened knob on short stem.

Glaze: iron glaze, translucent yellowish-brown where thin, opaque medium brown where thick. On interior, glaze seemingly spilled on irregularly (intentionally?), then wiped off with rag or straw.