Martaban jar

Martabani jars like this one were manufactured in various parts of the East Indies. The jars take their name from the Burmese port city of Martaban where they were first traded with Portuguese merchants in the sixteenth century. Both the English and Dutch East India Companies used these jars for storage purposes. They were ideal for transporting spices and roots, such as ginger, on board ships. Larger jars were used to store water, oil, wine, rice and gunpowder.

East India Company ships were too large to moor in the Pool of London and had to be unloaded at Blackwall at the north-east corner of the Isle of Dogs.