Indonesian Ceramic Shipwreck Vessel

Orange pot with one smoke-darkened cheek, shaped like a pear that went to work.

This shipwreck vessel is from Java Sea near Borneo, Indonesia, and dates to the 17th or 18th century. It is pottery. Most ceramics carried on trading ships were practical, and many were vessels holding wine, making them roughly the equivalent of today's wine bottles, although some were delicate blue and white porcelain. Small jar with a thick doubled lip, a short neck and a pear-shaped body tapering to a narrow base. Rust-orange clay covers the upper part, and a large blackened patch spreads across the lower body. It is 5 inches high and 5 in diameter.

Cooked on one side, and proud of it.