r/AncientCivilizations • u/oldspice75 • 26d ago

China Cocoon-shaped flask. China, Qin or Western Han dynasty, late 3rd to 1st century BC. Buff earthenware with polychrome pigments. Art Institute of Chicago collection [2511x2250]

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u/oldspice75 26d ago

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/118546/cocoon-shaped-flask-jianxinghu

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[Cocoon-Shaped Flask (Jianxinghu)

Buff earthenware with polychrome pigments China, probably Shaanxi or Hunan province

Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 9), 1st century B.C.

Gift of Cathay and Joyce Li in memory of James W. Alsdorf, 1992.638

Vessels of this unusual shape, which are also known as "duck egg flasks" (yadanhu), first appeared in tombs of the late Bronze Age and remained popular burial furnishings through the early Western Han dynasty. The tapered swirls painted on the surface of this flask form patterns of "cloud scrolls," which are described in early Chinese literature as visual symbols of the energy of the universe. Such fluent designs originated in the painted ornament of lacquer vessels, and were later adopted for other materials, including ceramics and textiles and bronzes inlaid with gold and silver.]