Ceremonial vessel in the form of a Water Buffalo, 1000-300 BCE, Thailand. Earthenware with impressed designs, 33 x 38.7 x 18.4 cm. Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, the Helen Jones Fund for Asian Art, and the Suzanne S. Roberts Fund for Asian Art, 2000.204.1.

Among the first domesticated animals in Thailand, the water buffalo was instrumental to the plowing of rice fields and also a likely symbol of abundance for the afterlife. These three vessels, including an exceptionally large one in the form of a water buffalo, were found as a group in graves, where they had been smashed as offerings over the bodies of the deceased. Now reconstructed, they present important developments from the earlier ceramics seen at left, with their use of multiple colors on a single vessel, incised and rope-marked patterns for surface texture, and inventive forms gracefully standing on several feet.