Porcelain Water Jar (Mizubachi; Chozubachi)

A porcelain water jar, also called a mizubachi or chozubachi. The jar features a blue underglaze decoration of large flowers on one side and a mythological bird on the other with borders of floral and crosshatched designs just below the rim. This jar was collected by Commodore Matthew C. Perry during his historic Japan Expedition (1853-1854) that opened Japan to the western world and established a lasting diplomatic, economic and cultural relationship between two Pacific Rim nations. Artifacts from Perry's Japan Expedition would become some of the founding objects of the Smithsonian Institution's anthropology collections.