Chinese Neolithic Painted Pottery Jar - Machang (c. 2300-2000 BC)

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 have been coated in a reddish-brown wash on top of which have been painted geometric patterns in fired-on mineral-based pigments. For some reason, the surface below the handles has purposely not been coated in the wash.

This jar is quite large for its type with a diameter of 16.5 cm and a height of 14.25 cm. Although overall condition is good, there is some surface wear and the thinnest edge of the vulnerable mouth edge has been professionally restored: quite excusable for something breakable that is as ancient as this.

Examples of pottery of this general type with the distinctive brown wash below the painted design have been excavated from Liuwan village, Ledu county in Qinghai province and date to the middle of the Machang period.

This is one of a group of similar jars of varying sizes that we acquired over twenty years ago that we have not previously offered for sale.

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