Khmer potters used cross-draft kilns similiar to ones used in southern China and Vietnam, but with a different firing chamber. The shape of this jar may reflect a remote Indian or Chinese prototype but has come to epitomize a distinct ceramic tradition. Khmer ceramics were produced for local consumption rather than exported. Although Cambodia is today surrounded by Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, these borders are a result of French and English colonialism. Many capitals of the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer Empire (802-1431) were situated in present-day Cambodia, but Khmer political and cultural influence extended more broadly in the region.