Excavated from Agi, Nakatsugawa-shi, Gifu
9th century
Height 21.7cm, mouth diameter 4.6cm, body diameter 10.1cm, bottom diameter 6.7cm
Nakatsugawa City Board of Education
This pottery was discovered in 1971 during the construction of the Agi Community Center in Nakatsugawa City, and although regrettably broken in two, it has retained its shape well. The clay is a rather coarse clay with high iron content and a blackish-brown color. The sharply wheel-thrown finish, ovoid body, and well-stretched base are a good example of the shape of the water bottles of the Nara period (710-794), but the shoulders have lost their firmness. However, the loss of tension in the shoulder should give it an age that falls into the 9th century.
The Kaiyu glaze is generously thick from the neck of the mouth to part of the lower half of the body.
The fact that this is an artificial glaze is evident from the fact that both the interior and exterior surfaces of the mouth rim are covered with Kaiyu glaze. The color of the glaze, influenced by the color of the base, is a bluish Kaiyu black, which is not very beautiful. However, early Kaiyu glazes of the period, such as those on water jars and purification vessels, were not stable and tended to flake off, especially if they had been in the ground for many years. Based on the clay and glaze tone, this piece is thought to have been made at the Sanage kiln.
