The Stein Collection
Handle Fragment
4th century - 5th century (made)
4th century - 5th century (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This fragment is of the neck of a pottery vessel, fired to terracotta red. The neck is decorated with horizontal grooves. The small handle terminates in an anthemion and probably emulates metalwork. It was recovered around the remains of some smaller Buddhist shrines at the site of Siyelik, near the present-day town of Khotan on the southern Silk Road in Xinjiang, China.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | The Stein Collection (named collection) |
Materials and techniques | Clay, wheel thrown with applied work |
Brief description | Fragment of a pottery vessel handle, China. |
Physical description | Fragment of the neck of a pottery vessel, fired to terracotta red. The neck is decorated with horizontal grooves. The small handle terminates in an anthemion and probably emulates metalwork. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Stein Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India |
Object history | Found around the remains of a small square Buddhist temple at Siyelik. |
Historical context | Siyelik lies south of the Taklamakan Desert, near the Kunlun mountains, and was once part of the Kingdom of Khotan. Stein excavated the remains of a Buddhist temple there and found fragments of stucco sculptures and plaques. These were close in style to those of the Buddhist shrine at Aketerek, nearby, which had flourished in the third and fourth centuries. He also found what he termed "Muhammedan" coins and Sung Dynasty (960-1127 AD) cash pieces. He concluded that the temple site had flourished again in the early Islamic period, perhaps as an Islamic mazar, or shrine. A large number of bone fragments near the shrine suggested that the area had been used as burial ground at this time. The V&A holds, on loan, one fragment of a red terracotta vessel from Siyelik, dated from the fourth to the fifth century AD. |
Production | from Siyelik, near Khotan |
Subject depicted | |
Summary | This fragment is of the neck of a pottery vessel, fired to terracotta red. The neck is decorated with horizontal grooves. The small handle terminates in an anthemion and probably emulates metalwork. It was recovered around the remains of some smaller Buddhist shrines at the site of Siyelik, near the present-day town of Khotan on the southern Silk Road in Xinjiang, China. The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains. |
Bibliographic references |
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Other number | Si.001 - Stein number |
Collection | |
Accession number | LOAN:INDIA.38 |
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Record created | May 14, 2007 |
Record URL |
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