Indonesian Ceramic Shipwreck Vessel

Soot-dark and rounded, with a white crust clinging to one side of the mouth.

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. Dark jar, rounded, with a narrow shoulder, a short collar, and patches of pale material along the lip. The body shows scattered chalky specks and rubbed spots, and the surface has a dry, matte finish. It is 5.5 inches wide, 5.5 deep, 8.5 high and 0.15 in diameter.

Weathered, wary, and rather good at standing still.