Images(3)

Covered Lime Pot (Âk)

Date11th-12th century

MediumGlazed Stoneware

Dimensions3 7/16 × 3 1/16 in. (8.7 × 7.8 cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineGift of Brian A. Dursum, 2009

Object numberSN11192.19

There is early archaeological evidence to suggest that there were people living in fixed villages with knowledge of polishing stone and decorating pottery in the area we now know as the Khmer Republic (Cambodia) as early as 2000 BCE. These ceramics were hand-modeled and, like the early Thai ceramic tradition, finished with an anvil and paddle technique. Between the late 6th and the late 8th centuries, the Cambodians were using the wheel and producing painted pottery. It is unclear exactly when the Cambodians made the transition between low-fired and high-fired pottery, but the archaeological evidence supports a date in the late 9th century for this transition. At its height between the 9th and l5th centuries, the Khmer empire occupied parts of the modern states of Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. These small pots in the form of a local bird were popular and produced in large quantities, particularly from the Buriram kiln sites. In English, the bird is usually described as an ow!, but is, in fact, a local bird called an Âk. "The Âk is celebrated in Khmer song and poetry for strict monogamy and for its displays of anguish at the death of its mate. The Âk, which feeds on lake fish and shellfish, is associated with inland waters." Lime is apparently also made from the crushed shell of the same sorts of shellfish eaten by the Âk. The Cambodians refer to these vessels as 'Âk.' (Roxanna M. Brown ed. In Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter, vol, 11, no. 9, December 2005). Lime pots in this form are common in both a clear, slightly greenish glaze, as well as in dark brown. They were associated with the hallucinogen betel, which, when chewed, was an important symbolic component for animistic worship widely practiced in both Thailand and Cambodia. (Hiromu Honda and Noriki Shimazu, The Beaufy of Fired Clay: Ceramics from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 17.)

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