Indonesian Ceramic Shipwreck Vessel

Chalk-white and smudged with gray, like a pot that argued with a snowdrift.

This shipwreck vessel is from Java Sea near Borneo, Indonesia, and dates to the 17th or 18th century. It is pottery. Funnel-shaped earthenware from the late Song or early Yuan periods is believed to have carried mercury, which alchemists long associated with immortality and which physicians prescribed for a variety of illnesses. Oval jar covered in a pale, powdery surface with darker patches showing through. The rim is flat and slightly chipped, the base is narrow, and the body has a soft, matte, dusty look. It is 5 inches wide, 5 deep, 8 high and 0.12 in diameter.

Pale, patchy, and entirely at ease with it.