Lot Essay
This robust medieval jar was decorated with a design of five large leaves incised freehand into the wet clay around the shoulder. The remaining surface was then stamped with a pattern of three commas in a circle. The jar was covered with an iron-brown glaze of uneven thickness. The brown glaze that came into use during the 14th century was a combination of ash and oni-ita, an alluvial deposit of iron oxide-bearing clay.
Seto ware was made in and around the village of Seto in Owari province (modern Aichi prefecture) beginning in the late 12th century. During the medieval period (12th-16th century) there were some 200 kilns around the Seto producing ash-glazed and iron-glazed earthenware. The early products were intended as high-quality substitutes for Chinese ceramics, which were hard to come by. Sometimes known as Old Seto (Ko-Seto) wares, to distinguish them from later products of these kilns, Seto wares have been excavated all over the country but finds are most numerous around the military capital at Kamakura; they were apparently used as household utensils by members of the upper classes who had difficulty obtaining imported Chinese luxury goods.
Wide-mouthed jars such as the Rockefeller example were made during the most prosperous period of Old Seto ware, the 14th century. The shape of this jar, and especially the short neck-rim, indicate that it is among the earliest of the type. Moreover, the combination of comma pattern and leaf design appears to be unique. 14th-century surface patterns are elaborate, but delightfully fresh and casual. More than sixty 14th-century kilns producing glazed pottery have been excavated in Akazu, the southeastern part of Seto City.
The jar most likely had a cover and may have been used as a burial urn for remains cremated according to Buddhist custom.
For Ko-Seto jars of similar date and shape see Sekai Toji Zenshu Vol. 3: Nihon chusei (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1977) figs. 141-142. A 13th-century Ko-Seto bottle from the Collection of Mary Louise O'Brien was sold in these rooms March 21, 1985, lot 542.
Seto ware was made in and around the village of Seto in Owari province (modern Aichi prefecture) beginning in the late 12th century. During the medieval period (12th-16th century) there were some 200 kilns around the Seto producing ash-glazed and iron-glazed earthenware. The early products were intended as high-quality substitutes for Chinese ceramics, which were hard to come by. Sometimes known as Old Seto (Ko-Seto) wares, to distinguish them from later products of these kilns, Seto wares have been excavated all over the country but finds are most numerous around the military capital at Kamakura; they were apparently used as household utensils by members of the upper classes who had difficulty obtaining imported Chinese luxury goods.
Wide-mouthed jars such as the Rockefeller example were made during the most prosperous period of Old Seto ware, the 14th century. The shape of this jar, and especially the short neck-rim, indicate that it is among the earliest of the type. Moreover, the combination of comma pattern and leaf design appears to be unique. 14th-century surface patterns are elaborate, but delightfully fresh and casual. More than sixty 14th-century kilns producing glazed pottery have been excavated in Akazu, the southeastern part of Seto City.
The jar most likely had a cover and may have been used as a burial urn for remains cremated according to Buddhist custom.
For Ko-Seto jars of similar date and shape see Sekai Toji Zenshu Vol. 3: Nihon chusei (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1977) figs. 141-142. A 13th-century Ko-Seto bottle from the Collection of Mary Louise O'Brien was sold in these rooms March 21, 1985, lot 542.