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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.162
Title
Goose-head vessel
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 西漢 陶鵝首曲頸壺
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
3rd-1st century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Han dynasty, Western Han period, 206 BCE-9 CE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/190217

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Gray earthenware with traces of cold-painted pigments
Dimensions
H. 33.5 x Diam. 22.2 cm (13 3/16 x 8 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J.J. Lally & Co., New York, November 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 Louise Haskell Daly Fund
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.162
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Compressed spherical vessel surmounted by a tapered cylindrical neck that curves downward at the top, terminating into a stylized head of a goose; a circular aperture appears at the highest point behind the goose head; splayed footring encircles a countersunk base; light gray earthenware with minute traces of orange, black, and white cold-painted pigments. The form is based on a bronze vessel prototype. Such vessels gained currency by the Qin dynasty (late 3rd century BCE) and persisted into the Han dynasty.

Note:
A sample taken from the footring of this vessel was thermoluminescence (TL) tested at Oxford Authentication Ltd. in May 1999 and determined to be consistent with the suggested period of manufacture.
Commentary
(1) Similar earthenware vessel attributed to the Han dynasty in the collection of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. See The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Atkins Museum, 1993), 286.
(2) Similar earthenware vessel attributed to the Western Han period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, New York (accession no. 1994.605.17).

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • Sedgwick Collection

Related Works

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