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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.120
Title
Tripod cauldron (li)
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 商 灰陶鬲
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Probably 16th-15th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Shang dynasty, c. 1600-c. 1050 BCE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/182492

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Gray earthenware
Dimensions
H. 13.8 x Diam. 12.7 cm (5 7/16 x 5 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J. J. Lally & Co., New York, June 2001] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2001-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.120
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Tripod cooking vessel of bulbous form with waited neck, flared mouth, the legs tapering to small rounded feet, light gray earthenware with stippled and cord-impressed decoration.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Gray pottery li tripod vessels of closely related form and similar textured surface excavated in 1972 from a Shang tomb site at Anyang, Henan province. See Kaogu 5 (1972): 15, figs. 8.5-6.
(2) Gray pottery li tripod with similar textured surface excavated from a Shang dynasty site at Luodamiao, Zhengzhou, Henan province, now in the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. See Zhongguo taoci quanji [The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics], vol. 2: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Chunqiu, Zhanguo [Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000), no. 12, pp. 37 and 226.

Subjects and Contexts

  • Sedgwick Collection

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu