Cleveland Museum of Art

Short-necked Storage Jar

Date

300s CE

Medium

gray earthenware with impressed cord design

Culture

Korea, Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Early earthenware from the Three Kingdoms period is characterized by the jar's gray hue. Closed kiln chambers built on hillsides, which fired clay as high as 2000°F, maintained a low level of oxygen saturation. The loops on its round shoulder suggest that the jar once had a lid fastened by cords. The function of this type of large jar remains unknown, yet it is highly possibly that it was used to store harvested grains and seeds. The pounding technique ( tanal in Korean) used to treat the surface strengthened the clay body. The surface of this pottery jar was treated by the pounding technique.

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