Ancient Han Dynasty Glazed Hu Jar, China (1604AOK) $595

Description

Hu vessels, first made in the Shang Dynasty is an ancient-pottery wine vessel whose body swells in the middle, flares into a narrow neck and often has a raised circular foot. Very popular during the Han dynasty, it was used as an ancestral tomb burial object (mingqi) to hold liquids and elixirs for the deceased soul and assure its comfort in the afterlife. This vessel is a mould made earthenware red clay and has an unglazed interior. It is minimally decorated with horizontal bars in relief and has three spur marks on the rim indicating it may have been fired upside down in the kiln to insure particles from the ground would not stick to the glaze. The characteristic dark green results from applying a low-fired lead glaze over a slip with a high iron content. The jar is in very fine condition with no restorations or repairs. It has an indentation on one side, probably a firing error, and some fading consistent with age and burial in a dry tomb.