This large vessel is a classic example of the pottery produced in Banshan, China more than four thousand years ago. Many Neolithic, or stone age, ceramic wares that have been discovered were used in daily life. However, the design of a spiral with a notched motif, as seen here, is called the “death pattern” and appears exclusively on funerary wares.
This vessel, and other examples from Banshan are characterized by flaring sides rising from a narrow flat bottom. The jar is very wide and rounded at the center, then narrows to a cylindrical neck. Two small handles are placed at either side of the jar’s widest area. The body and shoulder of the jar are decorated with dynamic whorl designs in red, brown, and black paint. The spiral pattern represents one of the earliest known uses of the brush in China’s long artistic tradition.
The Banshan pots by placing thick coils of clay on top of each other. The top and bottom of the jar were built separately then combined and smoothed with a paddle or spatula. Slip, a mixture of clay and water was applied to the piece’s body to cover flaws and provide a smooth surface for painting. The vessels were fired in kilns that allowed heat to be evenly distributed.
This vessel, discovered fully intact, comes from the province of Gansu in northwest China and is associated with the Yangshao culture that spread across central and northwest China from about 5000 to 2000 B.C. These Neolithic people had no metal tools or technology as they learned to farm and tame animals in the transition from a hunter gatherer society to a more settled experience.
Artifacts provide valuable information about all societies but are especially important for those civilizations without written records. In China, pottery dates back approximately nine thousand years, and ceramics survive from the earliest periods of Chinese history. Therefore, even pottery and pottery fragments are able to provide important insights into these early cultures.
