China, Western Zhou dynasty,
10th or 9th century BC
Height: 21 inches, 53.5 cm

A large pottery jar of ovoid form with flat base, short neck and lipped rim. The body is decorated with an all over paddle-impressed pattern, consisting of rows of squares, interspersed with two bands of an interlinking key-fret design known as ‘thunder’ pattern (leiwen). Two rudimentary S-shaped handles are applied to the shoulder. The neck, which terminates in a rolled rim, is engraved with horizontal grooves. The pottery is hard fired and has burnt to a reddish-brown colour.

High-fired earthenware is known in Chinese as yingtao: ‘hard pottery’ and pieces from early periods nearly always display geometric surface patterns that are impressed with either a wooden paddle or a textile. This type of vessel emerged in the late Neolithic period in south-eastern China, with production reaching a peak in the Bronze Age and gradually declining during the Han dynasty. Vessels of this type have an uneven shape, because they were hand-built by the coiling method, rather than thrown on the potter’s wheel. A jar of this type is in the Meiyintang collection.1 Other examples are in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco2 and in the Cincinnati Art Museum. 3

1 - Krahl, R. Dawn of the Yellow Earth, Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, China Institute Gallery, New York 2000, no. 49, p. 105.
2 - Li, H. Chinese Ceramics, The New Standard Guide by He Li, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, publ. London 1996, nos. 37-8, p.67
3 - Avril, E. B. Chinese Art in the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati 1997, no. 47, p. 135.