Provenance: Personal collection of Mr J.E. Hagen (1904-1976), former Assistent Resistent in the colonial civil service of the Dutch East indies, gifted in 1947 by Andi Batari Toja Arung Gilireng, eldest daughter of the Aroe Matoa XLIV, chief Prince of Wajo (22/11/1926-14/1/1933), Sulawesi, and by descent in the family.

Mr and Mrs Hagen, in Menes, West (detail) Java, Indonesia, 1937.

Note: With its powerful form, bold design, the characteristic ‘heaping and piling’ effect, the present Vietnamese storage jar seems to derive from Chinese Yuan ceramics. Although the technique of painting with underglaze cobalt blue may have reached Vietnam from China before the 15th century, important Chinese influence in Vietnamese ceramics emerged from the Chinese annexation of Vietnam from 1407 to 1428 during the Ming dynasty. Due to these cultural and commercial exchanges, Vietnamese ceramic workshops which were in direct competition with the Chinese export ceramics were able to produce high quality pieces in the Chinese style such as this present jar.