Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Vase of bottle shape, tall thin tapering neck with flaring lip pinched into trefoil spout; lugs on body and lip.

  Body: hard buff earthenware.

  Glaze: green lead glaze, finely crackled, largely iridescent.

  Decoration: lion masks and rosettes applied in relief.

• Label

  This long-necked jar belongs to a group of funerary vessels of northern provenance. Unlike Han dynasty lead-glazed burial pieces, it served a Buddhist function. The appliques of monster masks, rosettes and lozenges with beaded borders reflect Central Asian, specifically Khotanese, influence. The tall, splayed base support, which lends the jar a decidedly more attenuated shape, has parallels in ceramics recently unearthed in China. The tall neck and trefoil mouth typical of West Asian metal ewers and bottles are unusual features and suggest that foreign metal vessels served as prototypes.

• Provenance

  To 1930

  C. T. Loo & Company, New York [1]

  From 1930

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company, New York [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires (May 9, 1993 to January 28, 2007)

  Chinese Ceramics (March 15, 1982 to July 10, 1986)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork, Pottery, and Painting (March 23, 1944 to May 2, 1946)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Scrolls (July 19, 1943 to April 30, 1946)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese and Korean Ceramics (March 22, 1943 to November 13, 1944)

  Chinese Panels and Han Pottery (February 25, 1925 to July 19, 1943)

• Previous custodian or owner

  C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s

• Name

  C.T. Loo & Company

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Cats, Art, Animals, Chinese Art, Northern Zhou dynasty (557 - 581), Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577), Pottery, Iridescence, Ceramics

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)