Accession Number
1991/1.95

Title
Beaker with incised leaf scroll pattern

Artist(s)
Annam; Kiln Unknown, Vietnam

Object Creation Date
16th century

Medium & Support
stoneware with yellow green glaze

Dimensions
4 5/8 in. x 5 13/16 in. x 5 13/16 in. ( 11.7 cm x 14.7 cm x 14.7 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of Helmut Stern

Label copy
March 28, 2009
These finely potted vessels with monochrome glaze were used locally by monks and officials, as well as exported to southern islands for burial. Vietnamese wares were admired for their fine-grained clays free from impurities and the skill with which they were worked. The advanced kiln technology of firing these fine stonewares, once known only in China, was gradually transmitted to Vietnam and Thailand as the ceramic trade market expanded and potters emigrated. Decorative techniques, such as the mottled green glaze seen here—achieved by applying small dots of wax before glazing—and the motifs of lotus petals and leaf scrolls in the two yellow-green pots, also came from China. The interior spots (called spur marks) in the beaker with leaf scroll pattern are the remnants from clay pads inserted between pots during firing to prevent fusing. The unglazed ring in the green glazed beaker is the result of a clay ring used for the same purpose.
(Label for UMMA South and Southest Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

Subject matter
Beaker with a leaf scroll pattern.

Physical Description
A finely potted stoneware beaker with a rounded bottom and a lightly incised, freely drawn leaf scroll spreading across the widest part of the body, flanked by incised double horizontal lines, all covered evenly with an yellow green glaze. Four spur markes inside.

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
bowl

Additional Object Classification(s)
Decorative Arts

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
beakers (pouring vessels)
bowls (vessels)
leaf scrolls
stoneware (pottery)