Lime Jar in the Form of an Elephant

By the early 1000s, much of Thailand had been consolidated under Khmer rule (802–1437 CE). A highway linking the Khorat Plateau—site of Ban Chiang ceramic production, an example of which is in the case at far left—to Angkor (in present-day Cambodia) increased regional trade and the distribution of distinctive chocolate-glazed ceramics in animal forms. This regally attired elephant resembles those used in Khmer royal processions. Such a ceramic container likely stored lime, an ingredient used in the preparation of betel, a mild stimulant popular throughout Southeast Asia.