Covered Square 'Fanghu' Storage Jar with Scrolling-Cloud Decor and Simulated Ring-Mask Handles

Gallery Text

Bronze and lacquer ritual vessels were expensive commodities that only the privileged class could afford, but in the Han dynasty, ceramic funerary wares that simulated these luxurious vessels became a more affordable means of outfitting one’s tomb, as a finished ceramic piece required far less fuel and specialized labor than a bronze or lacquer. The earthenware ceramics on display here date to the Western Han period (when the capital was located in modern-day Xi’an, Shaanxi province) and imitated ritual vessels with painted-lacquer decoration. Fired at relatively low temperatures, earthenware vessels are not fully vitrified and are slightly porous, making them less than ideal as containers for daily use, but suitable as burial items. Few colored compounds can withstand kiln temperatures without alteration; in order to replicate the multiple bright colors and dynamic designs of painted lacquers, mineral pigments were applied to earthenware vessels after firing and are hence “cold-painted.”

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1990.85
Title: Covered Square 'Fanghu' Storage Jar with Scrolling-Cloud Decor and Simulated Ring-Mask Handles
Classification: Vessels
Work Type: vessel
Date: perhaps reign of Wudi, 141 BCE - 87 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/200764

Location

Location: Level 1, Room 1600, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Bronze Age to the Golden Age

View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Cold-painted funerary ware: light gray earthenware with decoration cold-painted in polychrome pigments on a blackened ground
Dimensions: including cover: H. 55.1 x W. 22.2 x D. 22.2 cm (21 11/16 x 8 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: [J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1990], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1990.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year: 1990
Object Number: 1990.85
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions: The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

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, p. 1, fig. 1.8
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;

Exhibition History

32Q: 1600 Early China II, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

Google Art Project

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

Add to Collection

Log in to the Harvard Art Museums

1990.85: Covered Square 'Fanghu' Storage Jar with Scrolling-Cloud Decor and Simulated Ring-Mask Handles