Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Storage jar in guan shape. Vessel formed by process of coiling and smoothing, as indicated by uneven contour. Short everted neck with nearly horizontal rim added and shaped with use of a turntable or slow wheel. Irregularly trimmed at base. Flat bottom.

  Clay: stoneware, blackish-gray on surface.

  Decoration: the surface was consolidated by being beaten or impressed with a tool carved in cross-hatch pattern, before the rim was added or the base trimmed.

• Provenance

  To 1982

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

  From 1982 to 1984

  Dr. Tien Gi Ling, Singapore, bequeathed by Helen D. Ling in 1982 [2]

  From 1984

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dr. Tien Gi Ling in 1984

  Notes:

  [1] Helen Dalling Ling 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 (see Curatorial Note 5 in object record).

  [2] According to Curatorial Note 5 in object record.

  [3] Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920 file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Storage Jars of Asia (October 29, 2000 to March 10, 2002)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Helen D. Ling (1901-1982)

  Mr. Tien Gi Ling

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Name

  Ling, Tien Gi, Ling, Helen D.

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Stoneware, Chinese Art, Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 221 BCE), Ceramics, Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)