Jar

This jar belongs to the historical region of Raqqa, Mesopotamia and originated in Syria during the twelfth or thirteenth century. Freer purchased it from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian, who also owned galleries in London, Cairo, and New York. The piece, like much Raqqa ware available at the turn of the twentieth century, is ashen and crackled in appearance. This was part of its appeal to Freer and his contemporaries, who imagined this piece to be much older than it is now known to be.