Storage Jar with two handles and painted spiral design, from Gansu Province, China

Description

The boldly painted pottery of China's prehistoric past is admired by collectors around the world. This large, handsome jar is one of several in UMMA's collection dating from the so-called Banshan phase (2600 BCE-2300 BCE) of Majiayao Culture, which flourished in north and northwestern China in the Neollithic Period, before the discovery of the use of bronze.
People of the Majiayao Culture lived in riverside villages, and made their livelihood by hunting, fishing, and small-scale plant cultivation. Kilns were located just outside the village, but potting does not seem to have been a specialized occupation. There was very little variation in the types of vessels made, and certain shapes remained popular for many centuries. Large storage jars such as this one are found in graves, placed around the figure of a single corpse; judging from later practices, they held grain to supply the deceased in the afterlife.
These magnificent large jars are astonishingly thin and lightweight. Studies show that they were made by coiling strips of clay, and then a paddle and anvil were used to stabilize and refine the shape. The exterior surface was scraped, especially on the lower half, to produce a thin body and remove marks of the paddle. The whole was then often covered with slip (a very watery clay), dried, painted with mineral pigments, and fired in a simple kiln. The rich red, purple, brown and black tones of the paint come from iron and manganese compounds, which would have been found when digging for clay.
Pots from the Banshan phase of Majiayao Neolithic Culture—named for the site where sample vessels were first discovered—almost always have the same general shape: a narrow, cylindrical neck, abruptly giving way to a rounded upper half, tapering gently to a flat bottom, with two small lugs (ring handles) at the waist. Painted decoration is confined to the upper half, perhaps because these pots were set into the earth to keep them upright. The painted designs evoke fish nets and swirling eddies of water, but their meaning remains a matter of debate; since these pots date from before the invention of a writing system, the Majiayao people left no record of what their beautiful designs mean.
M. Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art
March 2007