A rare painted pottery 'bird' vessel, Neolithic period 新石器時代 彩繪陶鳥式皿

Collection of Julius Eberhardt (1936-2012), Vienna.

朱利思．艾伯哈特（1936-2012年）收藏，維也納

Modelled with an abstract bird head, an elongated handle and a small protruding dish, decorated with geometrical patterns in black and red paint, this pottery vessel is highly unusual. No comparable examples appear to have been published. Pierced with ten tiny perforations on one side, the present vessel could have been used as a sieve and the filtered liquid would flow to the protruding dish.

The geometrical decoration resembles that of Machang-type vessels from the Majiayao culture (mid to late 3rd millennium BC). Compare several examples from the Meiyintang collection, included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 1, nos 18, 19, 23, 35, 36; as well as a single-handled cup excavated from Yuanyang Lake, Yongchang, and a bird-form vessel from Hualinping, Lanzhou, both in the collection of the Gansu Provincial Museum.

The complex form of the present vessel, on the other hand, suggests a possible link to the Qijia culture (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC), also in the Gansu province. Qijia objects, however, are rarely painted. See two unpainted Qijia bird-shaped jars with legs published in Simon Kwan, The Muwen Tang Collection Series, vol. 3: Chinese Neolithic Pottery, Hong Kong, 2005, pls 89 and 90, together with a cup with an animal head resembling that of a fawn, also attributed to the Qijia culture, pl. 91.

此器造型獨特，塑貼鳥首，柄扁而寬，後方器壁有十個小孔，外接小盤，彷彿可作篩之用，分隔液體、渣滓。

此器上以紅黑彩繪幾何圖案，與馬家窰文化馬廠類型（公元前三千紀中至末）器物相近，如玫茵堂所藏，見康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2010年，卷1，編號18、19、23、35、36；或甘肅博物館藏永昌縣鴛鴦池出土單耳桶狀杯和蘭州市華林坪出土鳥形壺。

其彩繪雖與馬廠類型相近，但以其複雜器形而言，更接近同屬甘肅一帶的齊家文化（公元前二千紀上半期），但後者鮮施彩繪。參考兩件齊家文化鳥形壺，均飾鳥足，收入關善明，《沐文堂收藏全集．3．中國史前陶藝》，香港，2005年，圖版89-90，同載一鹿首小盃，應也屬齊家文化，圖版91。