This large jar has wide shoulders with horizontal lug handles, and a tapered form that narrows at the base. The uneven brown glaze appears to have worn off around the mid-section. Large storage jars were used to keep water cool, as well as store rice and other foodstuffs away from pests. They were also used to brew wine. Jars such as this were also used for transportation of goods and are found throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. Precious jars were passed down from older generations as family heirlooms and many communities in the region associate ancestral spirits with the jars. For example in Java, large jars sited at royal tombs are given names. Martaban was a coastal trading centre in southern Burma where large storage jars were made and exported widely to places such as India, the Malay peninsula and Indonesia.
