VesselsChinese5th millennium BCE

Amphora with pointed base

Banpo phase, c. 5000-4000 BCE

Description

Inverted tear-drop-shaped vessel with cupped mouth, short neck, broad, rounded shoulders, sides tapering inward to a pointed base, and two loop handles just below shoulders; red earthenware, the upper half cord-marked (i.e., textured with impressions created by a cord-wrapped implement tapped against the moist clay before firing. Early Yangshao culture, Banpo type. Vessels of this form—with small mouths, pointed bases, and bilateral loop handles—were used to collect and carry water and were produced in abundance during the middle and late Neolithic period in the middle Yellow River valley region. Note: A sample taken from the base of this vessel was thermoluminescence (TL) tested at Oxford Authentication Ltd. in September 1998 and determined to be consistent with the suggested period of manufacture.

Classification

Vessels

Medium

Earthenware with impressed decoration

Culture

Chinese

Period

Neolithic period, Yangshao culture, c. 5000-3000 BCE

Century

5th millennium BCE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Asian Art

Dimensions

H. 37 x W. (across handles) 24 cm (14 9/16 x 9 7/16 in.)

Provenance

[J.J. Lally & Co., New York, September 1998] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1998-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.