Funerary Pot (white)

Urn

One of the very rear ceramic pots from white clay (Kaolin) for funerary purposes. The applied strong decoration imitates motives from bronze vessels: a kind of meander bands and animal masks.

Object ID
Shang_001

Age
around 1600 BC – around 1045 BC

Material
Ceramics, white pottery

Color
white

Height
25 cm

Height (neck)
4.2 cm

Diameter
26 cm

Diameter (bottom)
14 cm

Condition
Good

Price
on request

Description

One of the very rear ceramic pots from white clay (Kaolin) for funerary purposes. The applied strong decoration (models) imitate motives from bronze vessels: a kind of meander bands and animal masks. [1] The masks encorporate – seen from the front – an animal demon that is put together from elements of different kind. [2] This pot is decorated with four ribbons: three on the shoulder and one including almost the whole body. Animals, zig-zags and small squares can also be recognized. The bottom contains sand and Kaolin. Those vessels were fired in a reducing atmosphere with a hight of 1000 degrees LondThe body was beaten to obtain strong cohesion of the vessel walls and to prevent collapsing from the heat.

It is suspected that performances of animal-demons had apotropaic character.

________________________

[1] Kieser, Annette (2010): Die chinesische Kunst. Reclam Verlag. Stuttgart. 41
[2] Goepper, Roger (1968): Kunst und Kunsthandwerk Ostasiens. Ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber. Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung München. München. 46-48./ .. Watson, William (1977): Ancient Chinese Bronzes. Faber and Faber. London. Reproductions 43a – 51a.