480-470 BCE
This small oil flask depicts a lone black archer standing against a white-ground background with his arms outstretched holding an axe in his right hand and a bow in his left. He wears patterned trousers, reminiscent of foreign dress depicted in other vases, and a cuirass with shoulder flaps, tied by a black belt. His quiver is strapped to his waist. His head is turned to the left, curly hair rendered by simple black dots. To his right is a small table. On the side opposite him is a tall palm tree with a rippling trunk.
15.4 x 5.5 cm (6 1/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
Pale blue glass
3rd century CERomanNumbered Jun ware: light gray stoneware with variegated magenta and blue glaze; with Chinese numeral 1 (yi) inscribed on base before firing
15th centuryChineseCizhou ware: light gray stoneware with decoration painted in iron-brown slip on a white slip ground under a clear glaze
13th-14th centuryChineseEnameled blue-and-white ware, "wucai" type: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze polychrome enamels; with underglaze cobalt-blue mark reading "Da Ming Wanli nian zhi" within a double circle on the base
16th-17th centuryChineseMonochrome glazed porcelain: porcelain with black glaze
19th centuryChineseExport blue-and-white ware, kraak porcelain: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue
16th centuryChineseGritty, semi-translucent brown glass
1st-3rd century CERomanGray earthenware
4th-3rd millennium BCEChineseSilver
17th-19th centuryFrenchWhite ware: porcelain with light blue glaze over molded an incised decoration. From the kilns at Punwŏn-ri, Kwangju-gun, Kyŏnggi province.
19th centuryKoreanWood
19th-20th centuryKuba (Bushongo)Gray earthenware
3rd-2nd millennium BCEChinese