Pair of painted pottery covered Hu vases

China, Western Han dynasty, 206 BC – 8 AD

Height (including lid): 20 1/2 inches, 51.2 cm

For their repertory of forms, Han potters relied heavily on bronze prototypes, as may be seen in these vases. Both the shape and the beautifully detailed taotie masks on the shoulder are directly copied from contemporary bronzes. An example of such a bronze vessel was formerly in the Chiu collection (1). In the catalogue entry of the latter, Jessica Rawson argues that the concave bands on the vessel imitate metal bands often seen on lacquer vessels (2). The pottery masks on the present vases most probably originally held iron rings, which have long since perished. Motifs on painted pottery of this period reflect the Taoist philosophical mood of the time, where the idea of immortality and the continuation of the soul in heavenly dimensions played an important role. It is interesting to note that the top half of the interior of both vases is painted bright red, perhaps to give the impression, when the lid is removed, that they are filled with a liquid (3). A similar covered Hu from the collection of Charlotte C. and John C. Weber is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (4).

1 See: The Bella and P.P. Chiu Collection of Ancient Chinese Bronzes by Jessica Rawson (Hong Kong 1988) no. 38, pp. 98-9
2 Ibid., p. 98
3 Suggested by Michelle Little, curator, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England
4 Illustrated in a May 1988 article in Orientations magazine, by Peter C. Sturman, plates 2 and 2a.