Terracotta Vase - 30 cm - Tripod jar Mingqi (明器)

Large tripodal Mingqi jar (明器)
Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)
China
Grey terra-cotta
Dimensions: 30 cm x 16 cm diameter

Under the Han, many terra-cotta vessels were specifically produced to accompany the deceased into the tomb. These objects, designated by the term mingqi (spirit objects), reproduced or evoked the goods used in the world of the living and contributed to the construction of a funerary environment intended to symbolically ensure the continuity of existence in the afterlife. The shapes of some of these vessels deliberately echo the vocabulary of the prestigious ritual bronzes of earlier periods, transposed into a material more suited to funerary production.
This specimen constitutes a remarkable testimony to Chinese funerary ceramics of the Han dynasty.

Important cylindrical jar in grey terra-cotta, resting on three short fashioned feet and featuring a high belly with slightly convex walls, finished with a rounded shoulder and a very short neck with a circular opening.

The surface is structured by four horizontal registers separated by groups of fine parallel relief mouldings, giving the whole a strongly architectural character. The sobriety of this decorative organization, based on the repetition of the bands and the monumentality of the form, is characteristic of certain funerary productions of the Han period.

The three feet, short and stout, are modeled in a relatively free manner and display a decoration or reliefs now partly obscured by surface deposits. Their arrangement slightly elevates the vessel, following a formula inherited from ancient Chinese tripodal vessels, whose prototypes date back to the Bronze Age.

The jar preserves a notably expressive archaeological surface, combining the dark grey color of the terra-cotta with substantial light beige deposits and various encrustations probably resulting from a long sojourn in burial surroundings. The interior visible through the opening reveals concentric striations left by the shaping and finishing of the wall.

Conservation status: significant traces of burial, deposits and encrustations across the entire surface, wear and irregularities consistent with age and the archaeological nature of the object. Crack restored.