He's planning a trip to Japan, so something tells me he's going to love what we have to show him.

Welcome to the Freer and the Sackler galleries.

Oh, wow.

Thank you.

XAVIER CARNEGIE: Curator Louise Cort is excited to show off one of the museum's star artifacts.

Have you ever been in museum storage before?

Never.

This is a first. - Oh, good.

[LAUGHING]

I'm really excited about it.

I am, too.

Here we are in the storeroom.

Oh, nice.

Come on in.

Very cool.

XAVIER CARNEGIE: Amir might be wondering why we dragged him back here to see a brown jar, but this jar has a very unusual tale to tell.

Jars like this were made in southern China by the thousands--

AMIR BYRON BROWDER: Wow.

LOUISE CORT: --every day.

These were like the Tupperware of their time.

XAVIER CARNEGIE: These ordinary jars were mass produced in China to transport goods across Asia's thriving trade routes.

Most didn't survive the journey.

But this jar made it to Japan in the late 1300s and was put to use storing a valuable delicacy, tea.

Around that time, tea drinking had become an extremely important ritual in the upper reaches of Japanese society.

This was a custom that was practiced, in particular, by the ruling warrior class.

The people we know sometimes as samurai were the ones who, as the rulers of the country, popularized the drinking of tea.

XAVIER CARNEGIE: The samurai embraced tea drinking as a cultural dimension to their personas as military conquerors, and they turned it into a competition.

LOUISE CORT: They practiced it much like many people practice drinking wine today.

They test the aroma and compare the flavor and try to guess where the wine was made.

So there were tea drinking contests in the 14th century.

AMIR BYRON BROWDER: Tea drinking contests.

Wow.

LOUISE CORT: And they'd have to write down which plantation--

AMIR BYRON BROWDER: Uh-huh.

LOUISE CORT: --they thought the tea had been grown in.

XAVIER CARNEGIE: Over time, tea drinking became less of a contest and more of an art form.

Tea jars became the most revered objects for display in tea ceremonies.

This particular jar became the prized possession of Japan's wealthiest and most powerful men.

By the 16th century, it became so famous it was even given a name, Chigusa.

Not every jar for storing tea leaves would get a name.

Only the jars that everyone agreed were really very handsome.