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Bird-shaped jar

View through Harvard Museums
Compressed, wide-bodied jar with open mouth, bulbous, off-center neck, flattened shoulders, sides tapering inward to a small, flat base, two strap lug handles embellished with crimped appliques, and a small triangular tab below the shoulder, opposite the mouth and neck; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in black and burgundy slips before firing; decoration on the shoulders includes four round cartouches of small checkerboard patterns. 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.
Department of Asian Art [Kaikodo New York March 2001] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation Woodside CA (2001-2006) partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums 2006. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through a fund established by Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane for the purchase of Asian art
Title: Bird-shaped jar
Description:
Compressed, wide-bodied jar with open mouth, bulbous, off-center neck, flattened shoulders, sides tapering inward to a small, flat base, two strap lug handles embellished with crimped appliques, and a small triangular tab below the shoulder, opposite the mouth and neck; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with geometric designs painted in black and burgundy slips before firing; decoration on the shoulders includes four round cartouches of small checkerboard patterns.
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.

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