Indonesian Ceramic Shipwreck Vessel

Muddy tan and plain as a field, with a modest neck and no ambitions toward gloss.

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. Elongated jar in soft brown-tan with a gritty, unglazed look and a narrow collar. Faint rings show around the body, and chalky traces sit on the shoulder and rim. It is 4.5 inches wide, 4.5 deep, 9 high and 0.11 in diameter.

Quiet clay doing its quiet clay thing.