Jars, cooking vessels, and footed dishes, unearthed throughout the Japanese archipelago since 1884, are the most common forms of Yayoi pottery. This piece was coil-built and paddled; firing turned the buff-colored earthenware red and black in places. Incised crescent shapes reflect an earlier tradition of pressing patterns into clay with shells.
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弥生土器 壺
Title:Jar
Period:Yayoi period (ca. 300 BCE–ca. 400 CE)
Date:ca. 2nd–4th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Earthenware with incised decoration (Kinki region)
Dimensions:H. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm); W. 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
Object Number:1975.268.375
Kinki region
[ Harry G. C. Packard American, Tokyo, until 1975; donated and sold to MMA].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan," 1998.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art in Early Japan," 1999–2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West," October 3, 2000–January 14, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Spring and Summer," December 17, 2005–June 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Autumn and Winter," June 22–September 10, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Animals, Birds, Insects, and Marine Life in Japanese Art," June 26–November 30, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Five Thousand Years of Japanese Art: Treasures from the Packard Collection," December 17, 2009–June 10, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes in Japanese Art," June 24–November 7, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Contemporary Japanese Ceramics in Historical Context," September 24, 2018–April 11, 2022.
Elizabeth J. Milleker, ed. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000, pp. 172–73, fig. 123.
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