Jar with Pedestal Base, between mid-1st and mid-6th century

  • Korean

Stoneware

  • Overall: 14 × 9 3/4 × 39 1/2 inches (35.6 × 24.8 × 100.3 cm)

Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

2015.10

Department

Asian Art

This stoneware jar has a short, slightly flared neck that curves inward toward the rim, a globular body, and an attached openwork pedestal. Simple in shape and design, its only decoration is a wave pattern above and below raised bands that encircle the neck, incised lines around the top of the body, and five rectangular perforations above a thin raised band on the stand. Such dark, austere stoneware was produced in the southeastern region of the Korean peninsula during the Gaya kingdom (42–562) from about the third century. The grayish-blue color, typical for Gaya pottery, was the result of firing at high temperatures in enclosed kilns. Many of these vessels were used for food storage or as cooking pots, and were found in large quantities in tombs. Gaya burials were in stone-lined tombs and rectangular chambers, into which ritual vessels were placed—symbolizing belief in a life after death. From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

(Kang Collection Korean Art Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

2015-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Korean, Jar with Pedestal Base, between mid-1st and mid-6th century, stoneware. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2015.10.