Haniwa Dish
Unknown Artist
4th–7th century
Medium
Earthenware
Dimensions
Diam. 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
Japan
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund
Accession Number
17.229.31
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Asian Art collection, the *Haniwa Dish* is a delicate earthenware sculpture from 4th–7th Japan, crafted during the Kofun (ca. 250–710 CE). Haniwa, meaning "clay ring" or "circle of clay," were hollow, low-fired clay figures ritually placed around elite burial mounds known as kofun. This modest dish, with a diameter of just 3/4 inches (12.1 cm), exemplifies the stylized, minimalist forms typical of these anonymous works, often depicting everyday objects, animals, or people to honor and protect the deceased in the afterlife. Made from unglazed earthe...