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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.174.A-B
Title
Round covered box
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 西漢 彩繪陶盒
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
2nd-1st century BCE
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Period
Han dynasty, Western Han period, 206 BCE-9 CE
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/97296

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cold-painted funerary ware: dark gray earthenware with decoration cold-painted in variegated pigments
Dimensions
H. 19.6 x Diam. 23.4 cm (7 11/16 x 9 3/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Sotheby's, New York, 19 September 2002, lot. 17] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (2002-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.174.A-B
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Cold-painted ceramic funerary ware simulating a painted lacquer box; rounded, bowl-like box with circular footring and domed cover with raised circular ring on top; dark gray earthenware with decoration of geometric cloud-scroll designs painted in unfired polychrome pigments, including white, off-white, ochre, green, blue, orange, and red; interior of container and lid covered with cold-painted red pigment. One of a pair with 2006.170.173.A-B.
Commentary
Compare to:
(1) Cold-painted earthenware circular box of closely related form with similar cloud-scroll decor excavated in 2001 from an early Western Han dynasty tomb in Sushantou near Mount Jiuli, Xuzhou, Jiangsu province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 5 (2013): 34, fig. 8.
(2) Cold-painted earthenware circular box excavated in 1972 from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, now in the Hunan Provincial Museum. See Zhongguo taoci quanji [The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics], vol. 3: Qin, Han [Qin and Han dynasties] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000), no. 44, pp. 69 and 233.

Publication History

  • Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, auct. cat., Sotheby's, New York (New York, September 19, 2002), lot 17
  • Julie Wertz, Georgina Rayner, Katherine Eremin, Susan Costello, Angela Chang, and Melissa Moy, "Material investigation of cold-painted funerary ceramics from the Han dynasty", ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference (Beijing, 2021), pp. 1-10, pp. 1, 3, fig. 1.4, 4
  • Julie Wertz, Georgina Rayner, Katherine Eremin, Susan Costello, Angela Chang, and Melissa Moy, Material investigation of cold-painted Han dynasty funerary ceramics, ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints, ICOM-CC (https://www.icom-cc-publications-online.org/4263/Material-investigation-of-cold-painted-funerary-ceramics-of-the-Han-dynasty, May 2021), Figure 1, Page 1; Figure 4, Page 3

Subjects and Contexts

  • Sedgwick Collection

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu