This is a light brown, circular ceramic vase with two circular handles below the shoulder and a long spout with a flared opening. It has dark brown horizontal lines as decoration.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

This is a light brown, circular ceramic jug with dark brown decoration, two small, round handles coming from opposite sides below the shoulder, and a long narrow neck leading to a flared opening on top. The decoration consists of parallel lines that are closely spaced together. Most of the parallel lines go horizontally around the jug. At the height of the handles the parallel lines arch downward, and on the upper part of the shoulder the parallel lines arch upward. The horizontal decoration extends to the top of the neck of the jug.

Gallery Text

Before the advent of metallurgy, numerous Neolithic cultures — which relied primarily upon stone tools, farming, domesticated animals, and pottery making — were scattered throughout vast regions of China. The cultures that produced the most remarkable earthenware (ceramics fired up to about 1000° C) tended to inhabit areas along China’s major rivers, and by the late Neolithic period (c. 5000–c. 2000 BCE), two notable ceramic types distinguished themselves from coarser utilitarian pottery — painted earthenware from settlements along the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River, and black pottery from cultures near the lower Yellow and Yangzi River valleys. Painted ceramics were hand-built, made of fine reddish or buff clays, and embellished with dark slip (liquid clay) to create vibrant, mostly abstract designs. Black pottery vessels were wheel-thrown, sometimes to the thinness of an eggshell, blackened during the firing process, and burnished to a high gloss. These delicate objects were impractical for daily use and were likely used for ceremonial purposes. Several Neolithic cultures also fashioned beautiful jades or hard stones — usually nephrite, an extremely hard mineral native to China — into ceremonial tools and weapons, ritual objects, or items of personal adornment. These jades were sliced, shaped, perforated, incised, and polished using non-metallic tools and abrasive crystals of even greater hardness than the jade itself, a painstakingly labor-intensive process that only the privileged could afford.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.16
Title
Bottle
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 馬家窯文化馬家窯類型 彩陶瓶
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/148555

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Earthenware with slip-painted decoration
Dimensions
H. 22.8 x Diam. 14 x W. 15.5 cm (9 x 5 1/2 x 6 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[The Chinese Procelain 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
2006.170.16
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Small ovoid vessel with flared lip, cylindrical neck, sloping shoulders, lower body tapering inward to a small flat base, and two loop handles just below shoulders; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in dark brown slip before firing; painted designs include undulating, horizontal lines encircling the neck and body and slightly curved, shark-tooth-like marks encircling the top of the rim. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.

Publication History

  • Transitory and Timeless: Ancient Chinese Pottery, auct. cat., The Chinese Porcelain Company (New York, 2002), no. 12, p. 17

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

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