Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/18723153/info.json
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Gallery Text

Before the advent of metallurgy, numerous Neolithic cultures — which relied primarily upon stone tools, farming, domesticated animals, and pottery making — were scattered throughout vast regions of China. The cultures that produced the most remarkable earthenware (ceramics fired up to about 1000° C) tended to inhabit areas along China’s major rivers, and by the late Neolithic period (c. 5000–c. 2000 BCE), two notable ceramic types distinguished themselves from coarser utilitarian pottery — painted earthenware from settlements along the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River, and black pottery from cultures near the lower Yellow and Yangzi River valleys. Painted ceramics were hand-built, made of fine reddish or buff clays, and embellished with dark slip (liquid clay) to create vibrant, mostly abstract designs. Black pottery vessels were wheel-thrown, sometimes to the thinness of an eggshell, blackened during the firing process, and burnished to a high gloss. These delicate objects were impractical for daily use and were likely used for ceremonial purposes. Several Neolithic cultures also fashioned beautiful jades or hard stones — usually nephrite, an extremely hard mineral native to China — into ceremonial tools and weapons, ritual objects, or items of personal adornment. These jades were sliced, shaped, perforated, incised, and polished using non-metallic tools and abrasive crystals of even greater hardness than the jade itself, a painstakingly labor-intensive process that only the privileged could afford.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.3
Title
Wide mouthed jar
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 仰韶文化半坡類型 陶小罐
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Banpo phase, c. 5000-4000 BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Shaanxi province
Period
Neolithic period, Yangshao culture, c. 5000-3000 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/93622

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1740, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Earthenware with impressed decoration
Dimensions
H. 14.2 x Diam. 22 cm (5 9/16 x 8 11/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[The Chinese Porcelain Company, 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
2006.170.3
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.

Descriptions

Description
Compressed ovoid vessel with wide mouth, thickened lip, and body curving inward to a flat base; red earthenware textured extensively below the plain lip with abstract patterns created by impressing the clay surface repeatedly with an implement before firing; remains of earth from burial encrusted over the entirety of the vessel. Early Yangshao culture, Banpo type. From the middle Yellow River valley region, Shaanxi province.
Commentary
Compare to:
Jar with similar shape and textured surface excavated in 1972 from a Banpo site in Jiangzhai, Lintong county, Shaanxi province, now in the Banpo Museum, Xi’an. See Kaogu 3 (1973): 143, fig. 16.14, and pl. 4.1 (right).

Publication History

  • Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Spring 2003, auct. cat., The Chinese Porcelain Company (New York, NY, 2003), no. 1, pp. 8-9

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1740 Early China I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • 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