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Lot Essay
This rare bowl is a similar size and bears a mask design that is of exactly the same form as the famous bowl excavated from the site of Banpo village, near Xi'an in southwestern Shaanxi province, published in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Gongyi Meishu Bian 1 Taoci, Shanghai Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 1988, no. 4. Banpo village has given its name to the Banpo phase, the earliest stratum of the Neolithic Yangshao culture, which extended over Shaanxi, Shanxi and Gansu provinces. This culture is particularly noted for its fine painted pottery. The site of Banpo village was divided into three distinct areas - one of which was reserved for pottery making.
The design seen on the current bowl and the famous example from Banpo appears with minor variations on a small number of vessels from Yangshao sites in Shaanxi. A compilation of drawings of these various mask designs from various archaeological publications is shown by J. Rawson in Mysteries of Ancient China: New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties, British Museum Press, London, 1996, p. 34, fig. I.I. It may be noted that an example from Beihshouling has fish protruding from the upper part of the mask in the same way as the example from Banpo and the current bowl, but others have birds' heads and what appear to be animal horns. Whilst all the masks have a band of white across the eyes of the face, only the examples with fish have a single eyebrow dramatically painted in white. The fish, birds and horned animals (possibly deer) appearing on the masks probably represented the creatures which provided food for the people of the Yangshao culture. The bowl excavated from Banpo was used as a coffin lid for a child's burial within the habitation area of Banpo village. If that was the intended function of such bowls, then it is likely that the masks painted on the interior had a protective function.
The design seen on the current bowl and the famous example from Banpo appears with minor variations on a small number of vessels from Yangshao sites in Shaanxi. A compilation of drawings of these various mask designs from various archaeological publications is shown by J. Rawson in Mysteries of Ancient China: New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties, British Museum Press, London, 1996, p. 34, fig. I.I. It may be noted that an example from Beihshouling has fish protruding from the upper part of the mask in the same way as the example from Banpo and the current bowl, but others have birds' heads and what appear to be animal horns. Whilst all the masks have a band of white across the eyes of the face, only the examples with fish have a single eyebrow dramatically painted in white. The fish, birds and horned animals (possibly deer) appearing on the masks probably represented the creatures which provided food for the people of the Yangshao culture. The bowl excavated from Banpo was used as a coffin lid for a child's burial within the habitation area of Banpo village. If that was the intended function of such bowls, then it is likely that the masks painted on the interior had a protective function.