TWO NEOLITHIC RED POTTERY EWERS

NEOLITHIC CERAMICS

Details

TWO NEOLITHIC RED POTTERY EWERS
QIJIA CULTURE, CIRCA 2200-1800 B.C.

The larger, 'owl mask' ewer with a broad strap handle joining the ovoid body roughly impressed with cord pattern to the slightly flared rim of the plain neck, the wide mouth half spanned by an arched cover rimmed and bisected by scored, applied bands and pierced with two 'nostrils' at the edge flanking the cenral band; the smaller ewer also with a strap handle joining the plain ovoid body and everted mouth, with a short spout rising diagonally from the arched cover which partially spans the mouth, with burnished surface
9¼ and 6 3/8in. (23.5 and 16.2) high (2)

Lot Essay

A group of gray pottery 'owl mask' ewers of various sizes similar to the present example were included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Neolithic Period to the Western Han, Uragami Sokyu-Do Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1991, Catalogue, p. 16 (col. pl.)

For a red pottery ewer similar to the second ewer in the present lot see the example included in the exhibition, Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Neolithic Period to the Western Han, II, Uragami Sokyu-Do Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1994, Catalogue, p. 52, no. 75; and another in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd, Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 14