Jar with Ash Glaze, Sanage Ware (Important Cultural Property)

Sanage ware comes from the largest early kilns in Japan, which produced much of the Sueki stoneware from the late Nara (710-794) to early Heian (794-1185) periods. This exquisite jar with ash glaze over a gray clay surface has a low rim, a slightly flat rounded body, and a short splayed foot-characteristics of stoneware jars from around the first half of the 9th century. Although the shape of this jar was formed on a wheel, the lower half of the body shows markings left by a hera, a sharp bamboo finishing tool, and the high temperature, at which this piece was fired, caused a slight warp at the base. The simple voluminous shape and the long and short green ash-glaze drips running down the side create a strikingly dynamic pattern, making this an outstanding example of this type of ware.