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Gallery Text

Although there is evidence of the minor presence of copper artifacts among several late Neolithic cultures, by the dawn of the second millennium BCE, societies in northern China appear to have begun using bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) in earnest. Excavations at several Longshan culture sites along the middle and lower Yellow River valleys have yielded tools, ornaments, and vessel fragments made of bronze. Longshan black pottery vessels with design elements reminiscent of hammered metal also imply the influence of metalwork during the latter part of this otherwise Neolithic culture. Following closely after the Longshan period, Erlitou culture sites in Henan and Shanxi provinces reveal a complex, hierarchical society that produced bronze tools, weapons, vessels, and turquoise-inlaid plaques (such as those displayed here) of astonishing sophistication. The presence of such artifacts, along with the remains of bronze-casting molds at Erlitou, confirms that China had fully entered its Bronze Age by the second millennium BCE.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.119
Title
Spouted tripod ewer (he)
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 二里頭文化 白陶盉
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
1900-1500 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Erlitou culture, c. 1900-1500 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/73713

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
Dimensions
H. 53.5 x W. 17 x D. 14.6 cm (21 1/16 x 6 11/16 x 5 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2003] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2003-2006), 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 Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.119
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Tall tripod ewer raised on three hollow pointed legs, with elongated neck, long strap handle braced with struts, hooded mouth with notched semicircular opening, and short tubular spout; variegated buff and light gray earthenware with incised decoration on the handle, a narrow band of notched decor at the join between the top of the neck and the “hood,” and three narrow applique bands at the waist. Erlitou culture; from the middle Yellow River valley region, probably from northwestern Henan or southern Shanxi province.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Tripod ewer without a tubular spout but with similar incised decor on the handle and a single supporting strut unearthed at Gongyi, Henan province, now in the Henan Museum. See Zhongguo taoci quanji [The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics], vol. 2: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Chunqiu, Zhanguo [Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000), no. 1, pp. 31 and 223.
(2) Spouted tripod ewer of different form, but with similar incised decor on the handle and notched decor excavated from an Erlitou site. See Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo [Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences], Erlitou taoqi jicui [Cream of the Pottery from Erlitou] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1995), 43, pl. 6.
(3) Spouted tripod ewer of very similar form attributed to the Erlitou period in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection, Kansas City Missouri. See Colin MacKenzie, Masterworks of Chinese Art (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, 2011), cat. 1, pp. 22-23.

Publication History

  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 2
  • Thomas W. Lentz, ed., Harvard University Art Museums Annual Report 2006-7, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 2008), p. 12, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project
  • 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