Jomon Ware
Ceramics II
2010
Why Create Art?
Different people and cultures create art for
different reasons……
 Practical (functional)-Greek civilization used
pottery to store harvested food and water in
 Personal-Artists make work for no specific
function
 Cultural-Egyptian made canopic jars hold organs
of the dead
Jomon People
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Pre-literate Japanese culture
First to settle in Japan’s outlying islands
9000 to 300 BCE
Oldest known form of pottery
Made the most powerful and dynamic examples
of coil work that exist.
Above and Beyond…
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This culture made functional pottery beyond
anything required in a simple object for practical
use.
A special society
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Its distinctive style came from a hunting and
gathering society.
Historically, storage vessels were not produced
until people settled into the agrarian way of life
and relied upon tilling the soil for planting and
harvesting crops.
Who are the artists?
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"Often vessels were decorated with patterns
made by pressing cord onto the damp clay
(jomon means "cord markings").
Jomon usually crafted their vessels by building
them up with coils of clay
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They fired them in bonfires at relatively low
temperatures.
It is thought that Jomon pottery was made by
women, as was the practice in most early
societies, especially before the use of the potter's
wheel.
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Other early Jomon pots have pointed bottoms.
Notice burn marks along the sides
It is thought they must have been planted firmly
into soft earth or sand, then used for cooking
Other early vessels were crafted with straight sides
and flat bottoms, a shape that was useful for storage
as well as cooking and eventually became the norm.
Middle Jomon
Dogu
figurine
Early Jomon
Late Jomon
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It is thought that this group of people were able
to develop such elaborate pottery because of the
relative peacefulness of the islands.
There was lush vegetation, plenty of fish, and no
invaders due to the water surrounding the
islands.
They were free to enjoy the luxury of making
these artistic objects