Lot 570
Massive Chinese Neolithic Yangshao Painted Amphora
Massive Chinese Neolithic Yangshao Painted Amphora
Starting Bid: $800
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East Asia, China, Neolithic period, Yangshao culture., ca. 5000 - 3000 BCE. A vessel of considerable scale and presence, this Yangshao amphora commands attention through the sheer authority of its form before the eye even settles on its decoration. The body is broadly globular, swelling to a pronounced equator before tapering sharply downward to a flat, undecorated base, a profile characteristic of the Yangshao ceramic tradition and well suited to partial burial in earth floors for storage and stability. A pair of small loop handles, hand-applied at the shoulder-to-body juncture, mark the dividing line between the decorated upper zone and the unslipped lower half, the contrast between the two functioning almost as a horizon line separating the painted world from the unadorned one. The cylindrical neck rises cleanly to a gently flared rim. Size: 17.5" W x 22.8" H x 17" D (44.5 cm W x 57.9 cm H x 43.2 cm D)
The upper half of the body is coated in a burnished red slip and painted in dark brown-black with a bold, repeating motif of interlocking diagonal crosshatching from which emerge large, pointed ovoid forms with internal feathered striations, perhaps representing leaves, flames, or the highly abstracted organic imagery characteristic of Yangshao painted ware. The burnished surface captures and redistributes light across the curves of the vessel with a depth that no photograph fully resolves. The neck carries painted chevrons or wave bands in the same dark pigment.
The Yangshao culture, distributed across the Yellow River basin, produced some of the most visually sophisticated painted ceramics of the ancient world, and large storage jars of this type, likely used for grain or water, represent the tradition at its most monumental. Few Neolithic cultures on any continent matched the Yangshao potter's instinct for integrating decorative ambition with functional form at this scale. An exceptional and museum-worthy example.
Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; ex collection of Y. Kayvan, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2025; ex-Barakat Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, acquired between 1985 and 2003
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Item #
202522
- Condition: Rim and handles have been professionally repaired with restoration and repainting over break lines. Weathering to surface with pitting and abrasions in areas, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, impressive presentation with good remains of painted detail.
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| $750 | $1,499 | $50 |
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| $3,000 | $7,499 | $250 |
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