From the Harvard Art Museums’ collections Covered jar (hu) with pictorial decoration

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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

[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
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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

Exhibition History

Earthly Delights: 6,000 Years of Asian Ceramics, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/21/2022 - 08/14/2022

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