Funerary jar (hunping)
late 3rd century
Description
Broad-shouldered jar supporting a multi-tiered, tiled-roof architectural complex surrounded by birds, monkeys, dragons, and numerous male figures engaged in various activities; the sides of the jar further embellished with molded appliques of kneeling male figures bearing a staff; light gray stoneware with olive-green celadon glaze over molded and applique decoration; flat, circular base unglazed. From the Yue kilns in the Shaoxing area, northeastern Zhejiang province. Hunping, or “urns of the soul,” were fashioned to house the spirit of individuals and placed in tombs. Such vessels were produced for a relatively short period, from the third to fourth century, in the lower Yangzi River region.
Dimensions
H. 49 x Diam. 28 cm (19 5/16 x 11 in.)
Provenance
[Kaikodo, New York, September 1998] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1998-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.
Related Artworks
View MoreNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: off-white stoneware with dark brown glaze, the markings in overglaze iron oxide
11th-12th centuryChineseEnameled blue-and-white ware: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue, the background areas embellished with overglaze yellow enamel; underglaze cobalt blue mark reading "Da Ming Zhengde nian zhi" within a double circle on the base
16th centuryChineseCarved jade
18th centuryOttomanBlack earthenware
5th-3rd millennium BCEChineseOff white (or very light gray) stoneware with ash coating and natural ash glaze
21st centuryJapaneseLiao sancai ("three-color") ware: pinkish buff earthenware with lead-fluxed clear, emerald-green, and caramel-brown glazes over a white-slip ground
11th centuryChineseSilver
18th centuryBritishStoneware with brown glaze
6th-7th centuryChineseCeramic
ChineseDing ware: porcellaneous stoneware with ivory-hued glaze, the unglazed lip originally bound with metal. From the Ding kilns, Quyang county, Hebei province.
11th-12th centuryChineseSilver
18th centuryAmericanBucchero
6th century BCEEtruscan