Dimensions: Height 43 cm Wide 39 cm Depth 39 cm
Weight: 5098 grams

The ovoid vessel tapers to a pointed base and rises to a wide flaring mouth with slightly everted rim. Two loop handles are applied to the sides at the shoulder. The surface is decorated in dark brown and black slip with bold geometric patterns: concentric roundels enclosing cross-hatched circles on the upper body, flanked by sweeping curvilinear bands that emphasize the form. Traces of wear and encrustation are visible, consistent with burial.

This striking jar belongs to the Majiayao culture of Gansu and Qinghai provinces, famed for its vividly painted pottery. Such jars were used for storing grain or liquids and often accompanied burials as ritual goods. The bold abstract decoration is characteristic of late Neolithic Chinese aesthetics, combining visual dynamism with symbolic meaning.

Comparisons:

• A painted pottery jar, Majiayao culture, with similar roundel and geometric decoration, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession no. 1980.475).

• A related example, excavated in Gansu, was published in The Great Bronze Age of China (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, p. 45), illustrating the continuity of Majiayao pottery design.

• A closely comparable large painted pottery jar, 41 cm high, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1502, achieving USD 12,500, showing strong demand for well-preserved examples.

• Another similar Majiayao painted jar with roundel motifs was offered at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2018, lot 3215, underscoring the international market interest in these Neolithic ceramics.

The present jar, with its monumental scale and bold painted design, belongs among the most expressive works of the Majiayao tradition, embodying the sophistication of China’s Neolithic painted pottery cultures.