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Childhood of Humanity on Pottery – Pottery Vat Decorated with Stork, Fish and Stone Ax

Mar 9, 2009

Name: Pottery Vat Decorated with Stork, Fish and Stone Ax | 中文名: 彩绘鹳鱼石斧图陶缸
Date to: Neolithic period | Culture: Yangshao Culture (5000 – 3000 BC)
Unearthed: 1978@Linru, Henan | Current location: National Museum of China
Dimension: diameter: 32.7cm, height: 47cm

A ceramic painting shows a stork pecking a fish, next to a stone ax.

On the reddish background of pottery vat, the artist painted white stork, fish, stone ax with heavy solid black line outlining the stork eye, structure of fish and stone ax .

This rough neolithic painting is a rare treasure. It tells us some  aesthetic characteristics of prehistorical Chinese culture.

About the topic of  this painting

Some scholars think stork and fish, respectively, were the totems of two clans, while the ax was a symbol of identity and authority. Stork pecking fish indicates the story between the two clans; other scholars consider “stork pecking fish ” image represents the legend of Hero Huandou (a descendant of Zhuanxu) in the ancient history.

[Forbidden Treasure of China Series]
This is the 2nd of 64 culture heritages that the government of China forbids to exhibit abroad. The complete list is here. In Chinese.

[Related Product on Amazon.com]
1. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China

[Chinese Keywords]
禁止出境 国家一级文物

[Image source]
1. hexun.com/changbaishanshoucang
2. baike.baidu.com



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