Indonesian Ceramic Shipwreck Vessel

Glossy chestnut brown with fine incised lines, dressed up for a very quiet evening.

This shipwreck vessel is from Java Sea near Borneo, Indonesia, and dates to the 17th or 18th century. It is pottery. Wrecks such as the Turiang from about 1370, the Royal Nanhai from about 1460 and the Nanking cargo from about 1750 helped create shipwreck ceramics as a collecting category. Egg-shaped jar with a deep reddish-brown glaze, a thin pale rim, and a small tapered foot. Faint lines circle the shoulder and body, with scratches and a few light flecks on the surface. It is 5 inches wide, 5 deep, 8.5 high and 0.12 in diameter.

A polished manner from a pot that has clearly seen things.