Fired clay with lead glaze
25-220 CE
China
Museum Rietberg
Details
Culture/Civilisation
Ancient China, Eastern Han Dynasty
Theme
The Great River Civilisations outside India: Mesopotamia, Egypt and China
Subtheme
Ancient China: The Great Northern and Southern Rivers
Case Title
China - mastery in making
Display Location
Coomaraswamy Hall
Findspot
China
Measurements
26.5 x 35.5 x 23.5 cm
Accession Number
RCH 2111
Description
‘China’: a country and its pottery
The house model along with the storage jar and stove model displayed in the exhibition, combines closely observed detail with subtle glazing, achieved through complex firing processes. Achieving ceramic perfection has for millennia been a Chinese preoccupation. It is no accident that in English ‘china’ means not just the country, but the pottery that it has always regarded as a supreme art form.
Curators Comments
Glazed ceramic models such as this house were placed in tombs to serve the dead in the afterlife, alongside figurines of servants, soldiers, pigs, dogs and horses, as well as storage jars and agricultural tools. This was a popular practice in the Han dynasty (25-220 CE).
The house is probably modelled after a real one with tiles roofs, timber pillars, windows, wall patterns and balconies. The motifs at the base could be protective symbols.
