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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.2
Title
Amphora with flat base
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 仰韶文化苗底溝類型 陶平底瓶
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Miaodigou phase, c. 4000-3500 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period, Yangshao culture, c. 5000-3000 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/146554

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Earthenware with incised and combed decoration
Dimensions
H. 59.8 x W. 25 (across handles) x Diam. 20.5 cm (23 9/16 x 9 13/16 x 8 1/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 2002] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2002-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.2
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Tall, elongated vessel with small, bell-shaped mouth, narrow neck, sloping shoulders, slightly rounded midsection, sides tapering inward to a flat, circular base, and two strap handles forming loops just below shoulders; reddish buff earthenware textured with abstract linear designs from neck to foot, created by combing and scraping the moist clay surface before firing; mottled with dark patches. Yangshao culture, Miaodigou type. From the upper or middle Yellow River valley regions, possibly Shaanxi or eastern Gansu province.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Amphora of virtually identical shape and decor excavated from a Miaodigou site in Yangguanzhai, outside of Xi’an Shaanxi province. See Kaogu yu wenwu [Archaeology and Cultural Relics] 6 (2011): 21-22, fig. 12.4.
(2) Amphora of very similar shape and decor excavated in Quanhucun, Huanxian county, Shaanxi province. See Kaogu xuebao [Acta Archaeologlca Sinica] 1 (1965): 65, fig. 10.1.
(3) Cord-marked amphora excavated in Dadiwan, Qin’an county, Gansu province. See Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan, Kaogu yanjiusuo [Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences], Qin’an Dadiwan: Xinshiqi shidai yizhi fajue baogao [Dadiwan in Qin'an: Report on Excavations at a Neolithic Site], vol. 2 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2006), CCVI, pl. 2.
(4) Cord-marked amphora with similarly narrow proportions and narrow mouth opening but with pointed base excavated from a site in Shizhaocun, Tianshui, Gansu province. See Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan, Kaogu yanjiusuo [Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences], Shizhaocun yu Xishanping, (Beijing: Zhongguo dabaike quanshu chubanshe, 1999), 31, fig. 20 and pl. 8.3.

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • Sedgwick Collection

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu