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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.178.A-B
Title
Covered jar (hu) with pictorial decoration
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 西漢 彩繪陶壺
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
2nd-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/195610

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Gray earthenware with cold-painted pigments
Dimensions
H. 45.5 x Diam. 29 cm (17 15/16 x 11 7/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Kaikodo, New York, 1996] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1996-2006), 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
2006.170.178.A-B
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Covered jar with slightly flared mouth, cylindrical neck, broad, rounded shoulders, wide body, sides tapering slightly inward to a flat circular base, and dome-shaped cover; light gray earthenware with decoration cold-painted in unfired off-white, red, dark red, purple and black pigments on a white ground, the container with pictorial designs of two equestrian hunters bearing bows and arrows pursuing a white tiger painted in white, the lid with geometric decor.

Note:
A sample taken from the base of this vessel was thermoluminescence (TL) tested at Oxford Authentication Ltd. in April 2000 and determined to be consistent with the suggested period of manufacture.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Cold-painted earthenware jar of related form but with geometric cloud-scroll decor excavated in 2001 from an early Western Han tomb in Sushantou near Mount Jiuli, Xuzhou, Jiangsu province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 5 (2013): 34, fig. 9.
(2) Cold-painted earthenware jar of related form with geometric designs and a decorative band depicting a phoenix, a tiger, and a dragon excavated in 1992 from a late Western Han tomb in Jinguyuan near Luoyang train station in Luoyang city, Henan province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 7 (1994): 25, fig. 6.5.
(3) Cold-painted earthenware jar of related form with geometric designs and a decorative band depicting an equestrian archer chasing after a bear and a tiger attributed to the Western Han period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, New York (accession no. 1992.165.20a,b).

Publication History

  • Kaikodo Journal, Vol. 02 (Autumn 1996), auct. cat., Kaikodo (Kamakura, Japan and New York, 1996), no. 31, pp. 118-119 and 241-243
  • Julie Wertz, Georgina Rayner, Katherine Eremin, Susan Costello, Angela Chang, and Melissa Moy, "Material investigation of cold-painted funerary ceramics from the Han dynasty", ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference (Beijing, 2021), pp. 1-10, pp. 1, 3, 6, figs. 1.7, 3, 7
  • Julie Wertz, Georgina Rayner, Katherine Eremin, Susan Costello, Angela Chang, and Melissa Moy, Material investigation of cold-painted Han dynasty funerary ceramics, ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints, ICOM-CC (https://www.icom-cc-publications-online.org/4263/Material-investigation-of-cold-painted-funerary-ceramics-of-the-Han-dynasty, May 2021), Figure 1, Page 1; Figure 3, Page 3; Figure 7, Page 6

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • Sedgwick Collection

Related Media

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