Lot 222
222
PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN LADY
A LARGE NEOLITHIC PAINTED POTTERY STORAGE JAR

Details
A LARGE NEOLITHIC PAINTED POTTERY STORAGE JAR
GANSU YANSHAO CULTURE, MACHANG PHASE, CIRCA 2000 B.C

The upper body boldly painted with a large solitary stick figure in red and black, between sweeping black spirals enclosing three zigzag medallions interrupted by a pair of loop handles, all above a wavy black line, the short waisted neck decorated on the interior and exterior with further line motifs - 17 in. (43.3 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Jars with zoomorphic stick figure designs are commonly seen among the pots in Machang phase Neolithic burials in Gansu province. A jar with very similar ornament is in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, cf. Clarence F. Shangraw, Origins of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1978, no. 19