Jar with ash glaze, Tamba ware

Made between the Yuan and Ming dynasties (fourteenth to sixteenth century) in the south of China, this type of jar is covered in brown glaze and has four handles attached to the shoulder. These jars were originally used for storing and transporting spices and other items, but in Japan they were used for storing and transporting tealeaves and were greatly valued as imported items by feudal lords and wealthy merchants who enjoyed tea drinking. A great number of imitations of these jars with the same shapes and glaze hues were produced in Tamba between the 1620s and the 1630s.