Storage jar (zun)

Object Details

• Description

  Gray pottery beaker in the shape of a tsun (Chn)

  Wheel-thrown vessel, nearly cylindrical with everted rim, with high footrim (cylinder with everted base) added. Closely spaced turning marks on the interior.

  Clay: fine-grained unglazed pottery clay, well polished and gray on surface. Accretions of earth.

  Decoration: The body is divided, apparently by the use of a carved rib or die in the final stage of throwing, into five zones, separated by paired or triple "bowstring" lines. The zones at top, bottom, and center are filled by evenly spaced pairs of vertical lines, incised freehand. In all three of these zones, two vertical flanges with incised horizontal lines alternate with two plain circular bosses, the four spaced equidistantly around the vessel and arranged so flanges in the top and bottom zone frame a boss in the central zone, or vice versa. On the base, two pairs of horizontal "bowstring" lines, also formed with die or during the turning process, divide the base into three equal zones.

• Provenance

  To 1949

  Helen D. Ling (died 1982), Shanghai and Singapore, to 1949 [1]

  From 1949 to 1984

  James G. Ling, Bethesda, Maryland, given by Helen D. Ling in 1949 [2]

  From 1984

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by James G. and Ann S. Ling in 1984 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] Helen Dalling Ling was a collector who operated The Green Dragon antiques shop in Shanghai from 1938 to 1950, and a shop under her own name in Singapore from 1951 to 1982. According to James G. Ling, this object was collected in China during the war (see Curatorial Note 7 in object record).

  [2] According to Curatorial Note 7 in the object record.

  [3] See note 2.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings (February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024)

  Clay and Metal: Ancient Chinese Ceramics and Metal (February 25, 1997 to August 9, 2011)

  Chinese Ceramics: Glazed Ceramics of the Tenth through Thirteenth Century (March 9, 1987 to July 19, 1988)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Helen D. Ling (1901-1982)

  James G. Ling

  Dr. and Mrs. James G. and Ann S. Ling

• Origin

  Anyang, probably Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of James G. and Ann S. Ling in memory of the collector and connoisseur Helen Dalling Ling

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 1000s

• Name

  Ling, James G. and Ann S., Ling, Helen D., Ling, James G

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 - ca. 1050 BCE), Ceramics

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)