Browse Items (30 total)

(鬲) Li tripod(comma) (龙山) Long Shan culture 3000 – 2000 BCE. Red earthenware li shaped tripod effigy pitcher. These objects were used in rituals for ancestor worship. Some researchers speculate that the effigy is human and probably represents a…

Hu shaped storage vessel(comma) Gansu province (马家窑文化) Măjiāyáo culture(comma) (马厂) Măchăng phase 2300 – 2000 BCE. Red/buff earthenware with purple to black painted design. These vessels were used for the storage of liquids most likely wine. They are…

(香薰) xiāng xūn(comma) Incense burner(comma) (汉朝) Han Dynasty 206 BCE – 220 CE. Painted grey earthenware in mountain shape with mythical creatures. This incense burner is modeled on the mythical (博山) Bó shān or fairy mountain(comma) a place where…

(罐)Guan shaped vessel with (饕餮)tāotìe design handles. (周代) Zhou dynasty 1046 – 256 BCE. The tāotìe design is said to represent a mythical gluttonous beast but some say it is a dragon. It is a ubiquitous design from early in the Shang Dynasty until…

(鼎) Ding tripod(comma) (汉朝) Han Dynasty 206 BCE – 220 CE. Cold painted ceramic. The Ding vessel was very important to the worship of ancestors(comma) with the earliest examples dating to the Erlitou site 1900 BCE. Elegant bronze versions appeared in…

(镇墓兽) Zhèn Mù Shoù(comma) tomb beasts(comma) （五代）wŭ dài(comma) Five Dynasties 907 – 979 CE. Painted earthenware. This pair of mythical tomb beasts were the second line of defense at the entry of a tomb. They were preceded by a pair of beefy warriors…

(镇墓兽) Zhèn Mù Shoù(comma) tomb beasts(comma) （五代）wŭ dài(comma) Five Dynasties 907 – 979 CE. Painted earthenware. This pair of mythical tomb beasts were the second line of defense at the entry of a tomb. They were preceded by a pair of beefy warriors…

Horse’s Head (汉朝) Han Dynasty 206 BCE – 220 CE. Painted earthenware tomb furnishing. High ranking Chinese officials from generals to emperors were buried with retinues in order to continue their life style in the next life. Horses were an important…

Tripod storage vessel (唐朝) Tang Dynasty(comma) Shaanxi province 618 – 906 CE. Earthenware with (三彩) sāncăi glaze. Táng tomb furnishings were famously covered with three colored glaze in very loose almost expressionistic decorations. The lead based…

Ewer with rooster spout and dragon handle (唐朝) Tang Dynasty 618 – 906 CE. Pottery with yellow and white lead glaze. This pitcher shows influence from the west(comma) Persia most likely. During the Táng dynasty trade along the silk road flowed freely…