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Gallery Text

Ceramic storage jars of this type have been unearthed in large numbers from both cemeteries and domestic settings at Neolithic culture sites along the upper reaches of the Yellow River valley. This jar’s large size, skillful decoration, and excellent condition suggest that it was intended as a grave object rather than for daily use. Hand-built using the coil method, in which ropes of moist clay were coiled and stacked to create vessel walls that were then beaten smooth with a paddle, the jar was dried to leather hardness before being painted with black and burgundy colored slips (liquid clays) and fired in a kiln. The vessel’s undecorated tapered foot suggests that it was meant to be set into the ground for stability; the potter therefore confined his dynamic, curvilinear designs to the upper portion of the vessel. The bold, abstract decoration on this jar’s shoulder has a surprisingly modern appeal that belies its 3rd-millennium BCE origins.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.29
Title
Broad-shouldered jar
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 馬家窯文化半山類型 彩陶壺
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Banshan phase, c. 2650-2300 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Neolithic period, Majiayao culture, c. 3300-2000 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/189161

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Earthenware with bichrome slip-painted decoration
Dimensions
H. 42.3 x W. 45.5 x Diam. 42 cm (16 5/8 x 17 15/16 x 16 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
James D. Tigerman, Lake Forest, IL (by 1999); sold to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1999-2006), 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 Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.29
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Ovoid jar with short, cylindrical neck, broad shoulders, sides tapering inward to a small, flat base, and two strap lug handles positioned bilaterally just below the shoulder; buff earthenware burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in black and burgundy slips before firing; painted designs include checkerboard cartouches and geometric saw-toothed whorls on the shoulders, and cross-hatching and triangular waves encircling the neck. Majiayao culture, Banshan type. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Jar of same form with very similar bichrome painted designs of checkerboard-patterned cartouches, sawtooth-edged scrolls, and pointed waves on neck excavated in 1974 from a Banshan site in Guanhutai, Minhe county, Qinghai province. See Qinghai caitao [Painted Pottery from Qinghai] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), no. 18, p. 4.
(2) Jar of same form with very similar bichrome painted designs of checkerboard-patterned cartouches and sawtooth-edged scrolls excavated in 1975 from a Banshan site in Liuwan, Ledu county, Qinghai province. See Qinghai caitao [Painted Pottery from Qinghai] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), no. 34, p. 7.

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