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This handsome jar, with its full-bodied form, clean lines and lively zigzag comb decoration, is a magnificent example of ceramics produced from the late 400s through the 500s in the Kaya Federation. The federation was a league of walled city-states in the southeastern region of the Korean peninsula. Kaya and its ceramic technology were absorbed by neighboring Silla in 562. The high-fired vitreous stoneware body has traces of glaze formed naturally when ashes fell onto the piece and melted during the firing process. The significance of the openings in the pedestal foot is unknown. They were related, perhaps, to some means of heating the contents of the vessel. Or they may be simply decorative. Similar objects show rectangular or triangular openings arranged in single or multiple rows, with the holes vertically aligned, or staggered as they are here. The jar probably served a ritualistic function, and its near pristine condition suggests that it was most likely excavated from a tomb.