Excavated at Isogami, Osafune-machi, Okayama. 6th century.
Height 52.8cm, mouth diameter 19.0cm, body diameter 17.6cm, bottom diameter 23.8-24.8cm.
Tokyo National Museum
Based on the shape of the large, trumpet-shaped neck and the long, six-tiered openwork on the base, this jar with base appears to have been made in the mid- or late-6th century. The fact that the design on the lower part of the neck and the foot is not a wavy comb design, but a simplified design of pressed comb teeth, also indicates that this jar with base was made in the later period. The jar is decorated with a single band on the shoulder, on top of which four small jars are mounted, with three dogs and a horse between them. The dogs and horse are simply made of twisted clay, similar to the decorative technique shown in Figure 47.
The horse is a decorated horse with a brace and a hitch, and there is a mark on part of its back where something was removed, suggesting that it may have been ridden by a person. One of the other three animals is a dog, but the other two have long necks and may be deer. Such wide-mouthed jars with decorative mounts have been excavated mainly from burial mounds in western Japan, especially in Okayama Prefecture.
