Long-necked Sue jar

Japan
Late Kofun period, 7th century AD

High-fired pottery with applied ash glaze

This ritual tomb jar was shaped on a potter's wheel; the marks of the wheel are visible on the base. It was made in three parts. You can see the join where two bowl-shaped pieces were fused together. The neck was added separately.

The jar has a very fine random ash glaze caused by material from the kiln walls fusing on the pot's surface. This anticipates some of the ash-glazed wares made in the major kilns which were established in Japan by the thirteenth century. The lump on the base is probably material from the floor of the kiln that fused accidentally during firing.

L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)

, Hakubutsukan shozō Nihon-Ch (Tokyo National Museum, 1987)