Three-storied Watchtower

CultureChinese

DateEastern Han dynasty (25-220 C.E.)

MediumEarthenware with lead-fluxed glaze

DimensionsOverall: 34 1/2 × 14 × 15 inches (87.63 × 35.56 × 38.1 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number34-206

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThree story tower with large overhanging eaves above each story, with decorative quatrefoils on corners of eaves. Three figures stand on the porch of each story. Tower made in three separate parts placed on top of one another.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Unearthing China’s Past, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, November 15, 1973 – February 15, 1974, no. 48, ill., p. 113.

Gallery Label

During the Han period, tall wood-framed towers were used for a variety of purposes: grain storage, entertaining and defense. The defensive role of this tower is shown by the crossbow archers at the corners of the second story. The architecture of such towers was often very elaborate, including large overhanging eaves and elaborate end tiles.

Provenance

With Dr. Otto Burchard, Peiping (modern-day Beijing), China, by April 23, 1933-1934 [1];

Purchased from Burchard, through Laurence Sickman, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.

NOTES:

[1] Laurence Sickman, Nelson-Atkins Advisor on Asian Art, first wrote to Langdon Warner about a group of tomb objects, including this piece, on April 23, 1933: “It is what I believe to be a complete set of Han tomb pottery of such high quality and such beauty that it is really quite unbelievable. …there are in all twenty-one pieces all from the same tomb, near Shan Chou, north-west Honan.” Harvard Pusey Library, Langdon Warner Archive, Box 12, Folder 19, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Published References

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959): 206 (repro.).

Mizuno Seiichi, ed., Sekai bijutsu zenshū, vol. 13, Daijūsankan chūgoku (2) shin, kan, (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1962): 209, pl. 3 (repro.).

Kadokawa Shoten, A Pictorial Encyclopedia of Oriental Arts: China, vol. 1, (New York: Crown Publishers, 1969), pl. 35 (repro.)

Jan Fontein and Wu Tung, Unearthing China’s Past (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 1974): 113, no. 48 (repro.).

Conrad Schirokauer, A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978): 68, fig. 3-3 (repro.).

Joan M. Hartman, “Unearthing China’s Past”, Arts of Asia, (May-June, 1976): 37, fig. 5 (repro.).

Rob E. Fisher, “Stone Pagodas of Korea”, Korean Culture, vol. 2, no. 1 (February, 1981): fig. 3 (repro.).

Sotheby’s, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (New York: Sotheby’s, 1986): 10.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993): 287.

Matthew Kangas, Jim Leedy: Artist Across Boundaries (Kansas City: Kansas City Art Institute, 2000): 48 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008): 306, fig. 76 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.