This large wine jar is a typical example of a type of ceramic storage vessel produced in the Angkorean region of Southeast Asia, which at its zenith extended from Cambodia to Southern Laos and across to North-Eastern Thailand. Generally, such vessels were produced for domestic use and not as articles of trade.

These types of jars seem to have been commonly used for fermenting and storing wine or other spirits. Indeed, a bas-relief on the walls of the Khmer temple of the Bayon depicts men drinking from a jar not unlike this one. The relief indicates that on festive occasions or celebrations, a village or community would gather to drink from these types of jars using bamboo or reed straws.

Asian Art Department, AGNSW, June 2001.