2006.170.215: Basin

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2006.170.215

Title

Basin

Other Titles

Original Language Title: 晋或南朝 越窯青瓷大洗

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

4th-5th century CE

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, China, Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing

Period

Jin dynasty, 266-420

Culture

Chinese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/174173

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Yue ware: stoneware with celadon glaze

Technique

Celadon

Dimensions

H. 6 x Diam. 23.7 cm (2 3/8 x 9 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Priestley and Ferraro, London, May 2001] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2001-2006), 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

2006.170.215

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Basin with wide, flat, everted rim and rounded sides; short footring of wide diameter and narrow width encircles the flat base; incised horizontal lines encircle the exterior walls; a simple circle is impressed into the floor of the basin. Light gray stoneware with olive-green glaze all over, including the underside; more than a dozen spur marks on the base indicate the object was elevated in the kiln when fired. From the Yue kilns in the Shaoxing area of northeastern Zhejiang.

Large bronze basins of this form were used from the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) through the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (420–589) and were the inspiration for ceramic basins such as this. These types of vessels are referred to as “xi” (washers), indicating their probable function. Numerous green-glazed basins of this form have been excavated from third- and fourth-century tombs in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

Commentary

Compare to:
(1) Celadon basin of closely related form excavated in 1979 from an early Eastern Jin (4th century) brick tomb in Jiangning county, Nanjing city, Jiangsu province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 8 (1990): 51, figs. 9-10.
(2) Greenish-yellow glazed basin of similar form excavated in 1987 from an early Southern Dynasties brick tomb dated to 435 CE in Xinxing county, Guangdong province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 8 (1990): 57, fig. 10.

Subjects and Contexts

• Sedgwick Collection

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