Catalog (339)

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery with a smooth burnished surface. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth ...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery with a smooth burnished surface. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth ...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. This jar is relatively highly-fired and little more "heavily-potted" than some other similar examples. It has a smooth burnished surface. The outer surface and inner mouth have been elaborately decorated with a ...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery with a smooth burnished surface. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth ...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth have been coated in a reddish-br...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery with a smooth burnished surface. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth ...

This twin-handled pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a buff-coloured pottery. It has a wide body and two loop handles joined at the waist and upper neck. The outer surface and inner mouth have been coated in a reddish-br...

This pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is made from a relatively high-fired yellowish-brown pottery. It is of quite a "squat" form, with the wide body being quite low. There are two sturdy loop handles joined at the waist and just below the rim. The outer surfac...

This pottery jar was made by peoples of the Siwa culture (c. 1350 BC), one of the later Chinese Neolithic cultures, overlapping the Bronze Age. It is of a slightly differing shape to most know similar examples in that it has a wider base and, therefore, wider lower body. It is fairly heavily-potted and has been fired to an attractive orange-red colour. There are two loop handles joining the shoulder to the mouth which is of the ...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and many have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and some have a surprising amount of detail.hey were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date t...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail, including the sun and the moon in this example. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date thes...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date thes...

This fine and interesting pottery vessel was made over 3,000 years ago during the Chinese Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The form is of a cooking vessel and the three wide udder-shaped legs allow it to be stood in a fire with as much heat as possible being transmitted to its contents. It is not always easy to determine exactly which culture such vessels come from as similar vessels were made by various Chinese cultures. However, we un...

This large pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c. 2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a pale yellowish-brown pottery. For its type it has quite a large flat base with the body flaring out towards the wide waist where there are two sturdy loop handles. The u...

This unusually-shaped large pottery jar was made over 4,000 years ago during the Machang Phase (c.2300 - 2000 BC) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a pale yellowish-brown pottery. It has a fairly wide flat base, wide body and tall cylindrical neck. There is one loop handle joined at the shoulder and neck base, ...

This unusually large and imposing pottery jar, or "hu" was made during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It is made from a fine-grained grey pottery that is relatively highly-fired. This is an exceptional example of its type of fine form with its wide body and tall neck that flares inwards and then out again to the wide mouth. It has a pleasingly smooth burnished surface that in many places has a silver...

This large and imposing jar, of "hu" form, was made during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 8). It is made from a fairly high-fired grey pottery. It has a particularly wide body with a tall neck that flares out into a wide mouth. Interestingly it has a convex base within which are fabric impressions, the flared foot having then been luted to the body prior to firing. There are three raised bands of decoration surrounding the body: ...

This pottery jar of "hu" form was made during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25 - 220) and comes from Shaanxi province in the northwest of China. It is made from a relatively highly-fired reddish pottery and is quite "heavily-potted". There are decorative incised lines surrounding the jar at its shoulder. The surface of the jar and the inner mouth are coated in a unusual coloured glaze, varying in places from a yellowish olive-green t...

This pottery jar of "hu" form was made during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25 - 220) and comes from Shaanxi province in the northwest of China. It is made from a relatively highly-fired reddish pottery. There are two thin incised lines surrounding the shoulder. The outer surface and inner mouth are coated in a fairly thin glaze of unusual colour, shades of a yellowish olive-green, the colour and glossiness of which varies in places ...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date thes...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date thes...

This very rare pottery jar was made around 3,000 years ago by peoples of the Neolithic Xindian culture (c. 1200 - 500 BC). The Xindian culture is a relatively late Neolithic culture and overlaps with the Chinese Bronze Age. Xindian pottery is rarer and generally much less refined, more coarse and brittle than pottery from some earlier Chinese Neolithic cultures. Like many Xindian jars, this example is quite "thinly-potted" and shows "...

This is one of a group of moulded pottery tablets that we bought about twenty years ago. They are made from a relatively high-fired pottery and have a surprising amount of detail. They were made as amulets and votive offerings and were reported to have been excavated from the foundations of an ancient Buddhist temple, where originally many would have been placed to ensure the success of the temple. We find it quite difficult to date thes...

This attractive pear-shaped vase was made during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127 - 1279), most likely at one of the kilns in Fujian province. Interestingly it is made in several sections that have been luted together. The mid section is decorated with a scrolling lotus blossom pattern, below which is a repeating lotus leaf pattern. It is coated in a finely-crackled pale greenish-blue qingbai glaze of good colour, the colour at i...

This interesting stoneware jar was made during the Song Dynasty (AD 960 -1279). It is quite "heavily-potted" with deep ridges to the body and the applied decoration around the shoulder featuring a dragon chasing a pearl. The story of the dragon's pearl is one of the oldest tales in Chinese folklore. In addition to the dragon and pearl are five small appliqués. It is coated in a yellowish-brown glaze. The colour of the gla...

Unlike other Asian cultures of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese did not sit on the floor. The simple fact that the Manchu invaders imported highly flexible furniture from their yurts influenced the development of Chinese design and decorative arts. Within a few years of the Manchu invasion, Chinese craftsmen combined their highly refined design aesthetic with extraordinary exotic woods, veneers, and lacquer to create s...

This high-fired bowl was made during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127 - 1279) in the 12th or 13th century at the Anqi kilns in Fujian province. Such wares were made for export around south-east Asia; indeed this bowl has been recovered from a shipwreck and various sea-growths still adhere to the surface in places, particularly to the unglazed base.

It has an attractive incised decoration, a spiral pattern in its ...

This unusual jar was made during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Apart from the short spout at the shoulder, it is a conventionally-shaped storage jar. The outer surface and inner mouth are coated in a black glaze. The glaze falls just short of the bottom of the jar leaving the concave base unglazed. Likewise, the inner surface also remains unglazed.

This is quite large jar with a height of 22.25cm, diameter 20.5 cm. The upper part of t...

This very rare pottery model of a stove was made during the early Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386 - 534). It is "heavily-potted" and made from a reddish pottery that is highly-fired and coated with a dark amber glaze that has been applied unevenly and has degraded in places. To the top of the stove are various items of kitchen ware, although they are indistinct as the moulding is not very crisp and the glaze is quite thick i...

This heavily-potted stoneware bowl was made at the Sawankhalok kilns during the 13th - 15th Century. The inner surface is decorated with incised geometric patterns with a flower head at its centre. It is coated in a finely-crackled celadon glaze that, on the outer surface, stops short of the foot. In the centre of the recessed base can be seen the mark form the pontil on which this bowl stood in the kiln during fir...

This stoneware bowl was made at the Sawankhalok kilns around the 14th - 15th century. It is quite "heavily-potted" and coated in a finely-crackled translucent celadon glaze. The inner surface has been decorated with incised parallel bands and vertical lines. The unglazed lower part of the underside has fired to a reddish-brown.

Quite a large bowl with a diameter of 19.75 cm. It is in overall good condition with no restoration o...

This stoneware bowl was made at the Sawankhalok kilns around the 14th - 15th century. It is quite "heavily-potted" and coated in a finely-crackled translucent olive-green celadon glaze. The inner surface has been elaborately decorated with incised parallel bands and vertical lines, with surface decoration also to the flared rim.. The base remains unglazed revealing the pale grey stoneware body.

Quite a large bowl with a diameter o...

This footed round stoneware box was made during the 14th - 15th century at the Sawankhalok kilns. It is decorated with scrolling and geometric patterns in underglaze iron-brown with a clear blueish and finely-crackled glaze. The inner surface of the box is coated with same clear blueish glaze.

This is a large example of its type with a diameter of 13 cm. Overall condition is very good with no repair or restoration, although there ...

This stoneware jar was made during the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 - 1368). It is quite "heavily-potted" and made from a sandy coloured stoneware. The inner and upper outer surfaces have been coated in a chocolate-brown glaze. Around the shoulder on opposing sides are two loop handles. Although not immediately obvious, this jar has, at some time in its history, been horizontally broken in two and expertly re-joined around the lower body (see images, bearin...