Hard, nonporous, salt-glazed stoneware made an ideal vessel for food preparation and storage in the eighteenth century. The sinuous curves of this jar are patterned after forms used in ancient Greece and Rome. The potter decorated this piece with impressed rings at the shoulder and foot as well as with a serpentine vine-and-leaf design that was first incised into the surface of the jar and then filled in with colorful glaze. Unusually, this jar features both cobalt blue and blue-green glazes, while most jars of this type were decorated in only one color, usually cobalt. The colorful design makes an excellent contrast to the subtle "orange peel" texture that is characteristic of salt-glazed stoneware.