Lighting DevicesChinese1st-3rd century CE

Lamp with base in the form of a bear

1st – 3rd century CE

Description

Lamp with wide, shallow, straight-sided dish receptacle for oil, raised on a faceted stem with base in the form of a ferocious bear with plump body and humped back seated on a high domed pedestal base; red earthenware with lead-fluxed emerald green glaze over molded decoration, the glaze showing silvery iridescence on the surface from burial; the underside of base unglazed.

Classification

Lighting Devices

Technique

Lead glaze

Medium

Earthenware with green lead glaze

Culture

Chinese

Period

Han dynasty, Eastern Han period, 25-220 CE

Century

1st-3rd century CE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Asian Art

Dimensions

H. 37.8 x Diam. (top) 16.4 cm (14 7/8 x 6 7/16 in.)

Provenance

[J.J. Lally & Co., New York, December 1999] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1999-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.