A medium grey and white earthenware object that has a low dish as the bottom, a short stand in the center, and a stout, wide pointed shape on top. The pointed shape has a thick, swirling pattern with the negative spaces cut out. There are small red lines around the edges of the bottom dish.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A medium grey and white earthenware object that stands upright on a faded blue background. It has a low dish as it’s bottom, a short stand in the center that protrudes out, and a stout, wide pointed shape on top. The bottom dish has a thick yellow line and a thin red line along its edges with dark grey on the inside. The center stand has a thin red and black line near the bottom and the rest is yellow. The bottom of the pointed shape is white with a thick pale red line along the middle. The top is white with a thick, swirling pattern with the negative spaces cut out. The pattern lines have thin red lines in their middle. There is a small, flat form at the very top of the point.

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
2002.278.A-B
Title
Bronze-Form Censer with Openwork Cover in the Form of a Mountain (Boshanlu)
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
3rd-2nd 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/99854

Location

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

Medium
Medium gray earthenware with incised and carved decoration and with traces of cold-painted pigments
Dimensions
H. 22.2 x Diam. 17.5 cm (8 3/4 x 6 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Howard and Mary Ann Rogers, New York (by 2002), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2002.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Howard and Mary Ann Rogers in honor of James Cuno
Accession Year
2002
Object Number
2002.278.A-B
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

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

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