Shiwan kilns
Storage Vessel
1566-1699
Physical Qualities
Stoneware with dark brown glaze, 14 1/2 × 11 3/4 in. (36.8 × 29.8 cm.); 12 lb.
Credit Line
Gift of Mark S. Pratt, Washington, D.C.
Object Number
2021.67
Large and mid-sized storage jars were essential to maritime trade. Jars like this one contained fresh water, wine, or other supplies required by crews on extended sea voyages; held valuable cargoes of teas and spices; safeguarded merchandise such as fine porcelain bowls; or ensured the ship's stability as ballast when loaded with lead weights. A jar of this type was salvaged from the wreck of a Portuguese warship that sank in 1697 off the coast of Kenya. Others like it, transporting tea leaves, made their way to Japan.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2021; Mark S. Pratt, Washington, D.C., by purchase, 1980; [unidentified source] Taipei
Collection installation, "Asia. Exchange across Land & Sea," Levy Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, October 5, 2023-
On View at the BMA
