VesselsChinese4th-3rd millennium BCE

Jar

Majiayao phase, c. 3300-2650 BCE

Description

Small ovoid vessel with flared lip, sloping shoulders, and body tapering inward to a small flat base; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in dark brown slip before firing; painted designs include a frieze around the shoulder of dotted roundels interspersed with diagonal lines and bordered at top and bottom by horizontal, parallel lines encircling the neck and lower body. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.

Classification

Vessels

Medium

Earthenware with slip-painted decoration

Culture

Chinese

Period

Neolithic period, Majiayao culture, c. 3300-2000 BCE

Century

4th-3rd millennium BCE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Asian Art

Dimensions

H. 14.5 x Diam. 13.5 cm (5 11/16 x 5 5/16 in.)

Provenance

[The Chinese Procelain Company, New York, 2002] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2002-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.