Minneapolis Institute of Art

Storage vessel

Majiayao artist

Date

c. 3000 BCE

Medium

Earthenware with painted designs and burnished surface

Culture

Majiayao

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The high shoulder, flat bottom, and wide mouth of this handsome vessel would have made it an effective storage jar. The well-proportioned hand built vessel has been decorated with a strikingly linear design of clustered swirls interrupted by large, round eyes on a burnished ground. The Majiayao type (3, 100-2, 700 BCE) is characterized by the severe linearity of its painted designs usually executed in black only, and the meanings of this décor has yet to be determined. This dynamic pattern covers the upper half of the vessel ending just above the edge of the loop handles, one of which bears an applied strip or rippled clay along its spine. The other handle is plain. An urn of similar form and design was excavated in 1977 from Ciqi county in Gansu province. China, Asia

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