Storage Jar, Warring States period, 4th century BCE. Porcelaneous stoneware with impressed and carved decor under light yellow-green glaze, 27.94 x 37.47 cm. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of funds from C. Curtis Dunnavan, 98.214.1.

This elegant storage jar made in vague imitation of contemporary bronze vessels was created by building up coiled strips of clay which were finished on a slow-turning potter's wheel. Set on opposite sides of the shoulder are two mold-impressed plaques centered under the loose ring handles. The main decoration consists of two continuous registers of neatly incised vertical fluting. The finely worked precise detailing lends a sense of formal majesty to this exceptional example of early celadon ware. High-fired stoneware with shapes, decorations, and glazes similar to this vessel have been excavated from Warring States (475-221 BCE) tombs in Guixi, Jiangxi province and Shaoxing, Zhejiang province in southeastern China.