Jar. 15th century. Later Lê dynasty. Stoneware with cobalt pigment under transparent glaze; iron-oxide wash on base. H: 37.0 W: 23.5 D: 23.5 cm. Vietnam. Purchase--Friends of Asian Arts and Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program F1992.12. Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art

This tall, slender jar with cobalt decoration of lionlike mythical creatures, peony scrolls, and lotus-petal panels was made at a kiln in the Red River delta of northern Vietnam. Its place of manufacture is confirmed by recent research that has identified the locations of several pottery centers in the delta. The ceramic products of those kilns, made with the fine white local clay, were traded to markets ranging from Japan to West Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; this jar was recovered in Indonesia.

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