Notes

This ovoid stoneware storage jar is of Martaban type, characterised by its thick walls, narrow neck and robust form. The vessel is covered in a dark, glossy glaze and fitted with small lug handles (ears), designed to secure rope bindings or a skin cover over the mouth. Martaban jars were widely used across Southeast Asia for the storage and transport of spices, oils, dried goods and preserved foods. Their durable stoneware bodies made them ideal for long-distance maritime trade, particularly within the Indian Ocean world, and today they are valued not only as utilitarian vessels but as powerful material witnesses to early global exchange.

Provenance

Private Collection.