Harvard Art Museums > 2006.170.35: Bird-shaped jar Vessels Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Bird-shaped jar , 2006.170.35,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 19, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/190165. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2006.170.35 Title Bird-shaped jar Other Titles Original Language Title: 馬家窯文化半山類型 彩陶鳥形壺 Classification Vessels Work Type vessel Date Banshan phase, c. 2650-2300 BCE Places Creation Place: East Asia, China Period Neolithic period, Majiayao culture, c. 3300-2000 BCE Culture Chinese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/190165 Physical Descriptions Medium Earthenware with slip-painted decoration Dimensions H. 26.2 x Diam. 37.9 x W. 34.5 cm (10 5/16 x 14 15/16 x 13 9/16 in.) (across handles) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [J.J. Lally & Co., New York, October 1999] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1999-2006), 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 2006.170.35 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Compressed, wide-bodied jar with open mouth, short, cylindrical, off-center neck, rounded shoulders, sides tapering inward to a small, flat base, two strap lug handles, and a small, wide tab below the shoulder, opposite the mouth and neck; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in black slip before firing; decoration on the shoulders includes two large round cartouches, one with small squares and crosshatched rhombuses, the other with large dots set within a grid of crosshatched bands. Majiayao culture, Machang type. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province. This type of jar is said to resemble a squat waterfowl, with the jar’s neck, lug handles, and tab representing a bird’s head, wings, and tail, respectively. Commentary Compare to: (1) Jar of the same form with similar bichrome painted design excavated in 1977 from a Banshan site in Lanzhou, Gansu province, now in the Gansu Museum. See Zhongguo taoci quanji (The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics), vol. 1: Xinshiqi shidai (Neolithic period) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000), no. 99, pp. 133 and 279. (2) Jar of the same form with similar bichrome painted design excavated in 1975 from a Banshan site in Hongchengsi, Yongjing county, Gansu province, now in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture Museum. See Zhang Pengchuan, Zhongguo caitao tu pu [Handbook of Illustrations of Chinese Painted Pottery] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990), no. 653. Exhibition History Prehistoric Pottery from Northwest China, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/21/2016 - 08/14/2016 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
