Covered jar, Vietnam, 13th-14th century

Covered jar, Vietnam, 13th-14th century. Earthenware with glaze, Overall h.: 9 7/8 in. Diam.: 3 3/8 in. Diam. bottom: 3 5/8 in. .b H.: 2 in. .b Diam.: 4 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 64.108, Seattle Art Museum © 2016 SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE. Pottery, pigment. 4-9/16 x 4-15/16 x 4-15/16 in. (11.6 x 12.5 x 12.5 cm). The Alan and Dena Naylor Southeast Asian Art Fund (2001.31.2). Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE. Pottery, pigment. 5-3/16 x 6-11/16 x 6-11/16 in. (13.2 x 17.0 x 17.0 cm). The Alan and Dena Naylor Southeast Asian Art Fund (2001.31.4). Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE. Black earthenware with red pigments and impressed decor, 3 x 5 x 5 in. (7.6 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm). The Alan and Dena Naylor Southeast Asian Art Fund (2001.31.1). Minneapolis Institute of Art

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE

Jar, Sa Huỳnh culture, Southern Central Vietnam, c. 5th-2nd century BCE. Pottery, pigment. 4-11/16 x 7 x 7 in. (11.9 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm). The Alan and Dena Naylor Southeast Asian Art Fund (2001.31.3). Minneapolis Institute of Art

Note: Iron age earthenware objects exhibit a number of local variations in south central Vietnam. The group shown here, when compared to other Sa Huỳnh ceramics, displays a finer workmanship; with balanced shapes, precise potting, neatly impressed and incised designs, carefully applied and partially burnished surfaces. The amount of decoration and the fact that all four jars were retrieved from the same burial indicates that they served a ritual or ceremonial purpose. More elaborate then everyday utilitarian ware, they likely held food for the deceased in the afterlife.

Vessel in the Form of a Horn,Vietnam (Sa Huỳnh culture?), ca. 500 B.C.–A.D. 100

Vessel in the Form of a Horn,Vietnam (Sa Huỳnh culture?), ca. 500 B.C.–A.D. 100. Stone. H. 2 3/4 (7 cm); Diam. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Purchase, Rogers Fund, Josephine L. Berger-Nadler and Dr. M. Leon Canick Gift, and John and Evelyn Kossak Foundation Inc. Gift, 1999 (1999.276) © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This enigmatic object in the shape of a horn with a curled end is related in stone type and patina to two forms of earrings—one circular and the other with addorsed horned animals—associated with the Sa Huỳnh culture of southern Vietnam. One end of the « horn » has been carved to form a small cavity that could have been used to hold a liquid. It is possible that this delicate sculpture was a funerary object intended to replace a more perishable horn item. Little understood and known only through archaeological excavations, the Sa Huỳnh culture is thought to have played an important role in the trade in luxury goods—ceramics, metalwork, and stone goods—that flourished between different regions of mainland and island Southeast Asia.

Jar, Vietnam, Lê dynasty, 15th century

Jar, Vietnam, Lê dynasty, 15th century. Stoneware with underglaze blue decoration. Height: 13.1 cm (5 3/16) cm. Helen S. Coolidge Fund and Anonymous gift (1997.181). © 2016 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Provenance: Purchased by the MFA from Kaikodo America New York, NY, in 1997.

CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ: Truong, Philippe, The Elephant and the Lotus: Vietnamese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Cat. 141

Large Bowl with Stylized Floral Decor, Vietnam, 15th century

Large Bowl with Stylized Floral Decor, Vietnam, 15th century. Blue-and-white ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt-blue. H. 14.4 x Diam. 32.8 cm (5 11/16 x 12 15/16 in.). Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell (1983.206) © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Publication History: Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 320, p. 364

 

Large Circular Platter with Floral Decor, Vietnam, 15th century

Large Circular Platter with Floral Decor, Vietnam, 15th century. Blue-and-white ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt-blue. H. 7.2 x Diam. 37.8 cm (2 13/16 x 14 7/8 in.). Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell (1984.31) © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Publication History: Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 321, p. 364

 

‘Meiping’ Vase with Scrolling Lotus Flower and Stylized Lotus Petal Decor, Vietnam, 15th century

‘Meiping‘ Vase with Scrolling Lotus Flower and Stylized Lotus Petal Decor, Vietnam, 15th century. Blue-and-white ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt-blue. H. 38.6 x Diam. 23.1 cm (15 3/16 x 9 1/8 in.). Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell (1983.205) © President and Fellows of Harvard Colleg

Publication History: Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 319, p. 364