1965.15.FA Jar with Molded and Impressed Design

The earliest Jomon wares were simple pots with pointed bases and plain round rims. As this example shows, by the middle of the Jomon period, pots were given flat bases and fanciful rim decoration. Japan's Middle Jomon period, which ranged from 2500-1500 BCE, was characterized by groups of hunter-gatherers living in semi-permanent settlements. Fishing and gathering shellfish were important means of sustenance, but there is also evidence for agricultural production toward the end of the Jomon era. Coil-built, low-fired ceramic vessels such as this jar were prevalent and used for storage, cooking, and offerings. The common practice of decorating ceramics by pressing or rolling knotted cords (jo) into the soft surface to create patterns (mon) gave rise to the name Jomon for this period. In this example, incised lines border areas of jomon patterns, while the rim and body show typical looped and coiled applied-clay rolls.

It has been proposed that this vessel belongs to the Atamadi family, one of several stylistic groups that have been identified from the Jomon Period. The religious use of this jar (for offerings) is indicated by the untouched inside surfaces. The walls were probably too thin for carrying anything, and the bottom part of the vessel is clear of charcoal marks, which would have indicated a pot used for cooking. 

Middle Jōmon (Japanese Prehistoric): AAT: 300018526

Japan (nation): TGN: 1000120

terracotta: AAT: 300010669

ceramic (material): AAT: 300235507

cord (fiber product): AAT: 300014247

rope: AAT: 300014248

terracotta: AAT: 300010669

coiling (pottery technique): AAT: 300053903

surface texture: AAT: 300219406

3000-2500 BCE

ceramics (object genre): AAT: 300151343

fisherman (people): AAT: 300025608

hunter-gatherers: AAT: 300391448

jars (vessels): AAT: 300195347

shellfish (animals): AAT: 300249710

1970.14

Before 1963: Tokyo Art Club, Shibashi, Tokyo. 

1963-1965: Yamanaka & Co., Awataguchi, Higashiyamaku, Kyoto, Japan, purchased from above on July 21, 1963. [1]

1965: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of the Wendover Fund to the Foundation for the Arts Collection, purchased from the above. [2][3]

The main source for this provenance is the Object Information Card, n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted. 

[1] See invoice from Yamanaka & Co., dated March 22, 1965, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File. 

[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[3] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation’s collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

Apply to objects where number equals 1965.15.FA