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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.17
Title
Basin
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 馬家窯文化馬家窯類型 彩陶盆
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Majiayao phase, c. 3300-2650 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period, Majiayao culture, c. 3300-2000 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/148479

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Earthenware with slip-painted decoration
Dimensions
H. 11 x Diam. 30.5 cm (4 5/16 x 12 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
2006.170.17
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Circular basin with everted rim, slightly rounded sides, and lower body tapering inward to a flat base; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in dark brown slip before firing; painted designs include concentric circles radiating outward from a single dot at the center with additional dots at regular intervals (on the interior), curved arcs and diagonal lines (on top of the rim), and wavy lines with feather-like flourishes (on the exterior). Majiayao culture, Majiayao type. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Basin with closely related painted designs of dots and concentric circles on the interior and wavy lines on the exterior excavated in 1978 from a Majiayao site in Hetaozhuang, Minhe county, Qinghai province, now in the Gansu Provincial Museum. See Zhongguo taoci quanji (The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics), vol. 1: Xinshiqi shidai (Neolithic period) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000), no. 49, pp. 94 and 263.
(2) Basin with similar painted designs excavated in 1976 from a Majiayao site in Chenjia, Shuidi, Linxia, Gansu, now in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture Museum, Gansu. See Zhang Pengchuan, Zhongguo caitao tu pu [Handbook of Chinese Painted Pottery Illustrations] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990), no. 158.

Publication History

  • Transitory and Timeless: Ancient Chinese Pottery, auct. cat., The Chinese Porcelain Company (New York, 2002), no. 14, pp. 8 and 18-19

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