VesselsChinese2nd century BCE-3rd century CE

Double Handled Jar

2nd century BCE-3rd century CE

Description

Large jar with rhomboid cross-section, angled shoulders, constricted neck, flaring mouth, swelling belly, and two arched handles rising from vessel midsection to mouth rim; decorated with two symmetrically spaced carved volutes on the front and back sides of the body and incised vertical lines at the neck; burnished gray earthenware. Vessels of this distinctive type have been excavated from western regions of Sichuan province that were typically inhabited by non-Han Chinese peoples.

Classification

Vessels

Medium

Burnished gray earthenware

Culture

Chinese

Period

Han dynasty, 206 BCE-220 CE

Century

2nd century BCE-3rd century CE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Asian Art

Dimensions

H. 29 x W. 29 x Diam. 25.5 cm (11 7/16 x 11 7/16 x 10 1/16 in.)

Provenance

[Sotheby's, New York, 19 March 1997, lot 179] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (by 2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

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