Funerary Jar thumbnail 1
Funerary Jar thumbnail 2
On display

Funerary Jar

206 BC - 220 AD (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This earthenware jar was made and used during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) as a funerary object. The surface is decorated with a frieze depicting animals and archers; the lid is in the shape of a mountain emerging from the waves and probably referring to the mythical Penglai, or Island of Immortals, a place that the deceased were supposed to reach after death.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Jar
  • Lid
Materials and techniques
Earthenware, with lead glaze
Brief description
Funerary jar, earthenware with lead glaze, China, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)
Physical description
Cylindrical earthenware jar with three legs in the form of bears and lid in the shape of a mountain, decorated with a yellowish brown lead glaze. The surface of the jar has a frieze depicting tigers, monkeys, deers, birds and archers on horses; round the lid is a wave pattern rising in four points.
Style
Gallery label
(2007)
Lidded jar
Eastern Han dynasty
AD 25-220

This lidded jar is shaped like the Bo Mountain, a paradise inhabited by immortals and mythical animals.

Earthenware with yellow lead glaze

Museum no. C.819-1936
Credit line
Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Bequest, Sir Percival David and the Universities China Committee
Subjects depicted
Summary
This earthenware jar was made and used during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) as a funerary object. The surface is decorated with a frieze depicting animals and archers; the lid is in the shape of a mountain emerging from the waves and probably referring to the mythical Penglai, or Island of Immortals, a place that the deceased were supposed to reach after death.
Collection
Accession number
C.819&A-1936

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Record createdFebruary 2, 2004
Record URL
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