Indonesian Shipwreck Vessel with Loop Handles

Round-shouldered and chalky, with small handles tucked on like afterthoughts.

This shipwreck vessel with loop handles 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. Rounded jar in a pale, powdery buff with a short flared rim and two little looped lugs on the shoulder. Faint horizontal throwing rings show in the body, and dark smudges and soil marks dot the surface. It is 7 inches wide, 7 deep, 8 high and 0.23 in diameter.

Made plainly, worn thoroughly, and not asking for much.