Banpo painted pottery

Banpo painted pottery with a long history of 7,000 years was first found in Banpo of Xian City. It is a type of Chinese painted pottery culture, which has a long history and outstanding characteristics and wide influence. The site of Banpo painted pottery is at the shore side of river, therefore, Banpo painted pottery include vases with pointed bottom for drawing water, gourd-shaped vase, vase with long neck, basins and canisters.

The ornamentation figures mainly portray animals that people are familiar with at that time, for example designs of running deer, fish, human face, frog, bird and pig, two or three kinds of designs combined. There are also some simple designs, such as broken lines, triangles or net.

Painted pottery plate with design of fish and human face

This piece is16cm in height, 39.5cm in caliber, unearthed in Banpo cultural archaeological site of Xian of Shan'xi in 1955 and collected by the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is the representative work of Banpo type of Yangshao culture. The main features are: it is argillaceous red pottery, painted with black pottery, rolling-up rim, shallow belly and quite flat round bottom. The rim is applied with black color. The separating space, which divided the plate into eight equal parts, is decorated with clear and terse designs of lines or triangles. The whole body is covered with Tao yi (a thin coating), and there are two symmetrical designs of human face and fish on the internal wall. This has shown the worship Banpo people have toward the fish. It also has the implied meaning of certain primal sorcery.

Painted kettle in a shape of boat

This piece is 15.6cm in height, 24cm in length, unearthed in Beishouling , Baoji, Shanxi, and collected by the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The kettle, in a shape of boat, has pointed head and tail. It has flat mouth, short neck and flat shoulder, and there is one semicircle-shaped ear on each shoulder, which can be used for fastening rope. The belly of boat is decorated with net design in black color, which looks like a hanging fishing net. It may possibly connect with the fishing and hunting life of that time.

Kettle in a shape of human head

This piece is 23cm in height, 6.3cm in bottom diameter, unearthed in Luonan County, Shanxi in 1953, and collected in Xi'an Banpo Museum. It is daily utensil, and also pottery sculpture craft in a shape of human head. It has a human head, gourd-shaped body and flat bottom. And there is one mouth for pouring water on its back. The figure of a young girl is smiling, her cherry lips slightly open as if humming a song.

Miaodigou Painted Pottery