Majiayao painted pottery ewer with flowers-leaf and ripple design

Tags: Majiayao | Neolithic | pottery

Majiayao culture was a culture of the late Neolithic age of between 5,300 and 4000 years ago. The painted pottery of the Majiayao Culture was very advanced. It can be divided into four types: Shihlinghsia, Majiayao, Banshan, Machang. There is an abundance of ancient artefacts associated with this culture and the Neolithic cultures from upstream of the Yellow river.This Majiayao floral-design painted pot has a flat bottom and double ears, and its deep and wide belly was designed to contain food. Its patterns consist of three parts: a round arc-leafed convex triangle pattern on the rim of the opening and the shoulder, an ocean ripple pattern on the belly, and a hook-shaped design under the ocean ripple pattern.The color texture of Majiayao painted pottery is based on black paint. The most common graphics are floral scrolls, and differing patterns: tadpoles, frogs, ocean-ripples, dots and concave arc triangles. Symmetrical balance is stressed in the graphic designs. It is full of harmonic beauty. The painted pottery of the Central Plain generally has one graphic theme for each utensil, but the painted pottery of the Majiayao has many graphic themes presented together on one utensil.

 

National Museum of History