Wide-mouthed jar with pictorial decoration
Majiayao phase, c. 3300-2650 BCE
Description
Compressed ovoid vessel with flat, everted rim, sloping shoulders, lower half tapering inward to a flat base, and two loop handles positioned bilaterally at the midsection; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with pictorial designs painted in dark black slip on the upper half and rim before firing; painted designs include zoomorphic frog- or turtle-like creatures with human heads on one side and wavy lines reminiscent of flowing water on the other. Majiayao culture, Majiayao type. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.
Dimensions
H. 19.2 x W. (across handles) 27.3 x Diam. 23.2 cm (7 9/16 x 10 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
Provenance
[The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 2002] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2002-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.
Related Artworks
View MoreGray earthenware
3rd-2nd millennium BCEChineseHarvard 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
3rd-2nd millennium BCEChineseGlass
20th centuryDutchTerracotta
1st-3rd century CERomanPunch'ŏng ware: light gray stoneware with pale celadon glaze over decoration painted in iron-brown slip on the white-slip ground. Made near Kongju, at the foot of Mount Kyeryong, South Ch'ungch'ŏng province.
16th centuryKoreanTerracotta, white ground
5th century BCEGreekTerracotta
Silver
17th-19th centuryFrenchPunch'ŏng ware: light gray stoneware with pale celadon glaze over stamped decoration inlaid with white slip
15th centuryKoreanUnderglaze painted composite body
16th centuryOttomanTerracotta; buff clay, brown glaze
6th century BCEGreekRock crystal
19th centuryChinese