Sheep Pen
CultureChinese
DateEastern Han dynasty (25-220 C.E.)
MediumEarthenware with lead-fluxed glaze
DimensionsOverall: 8 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 5 inches (20.96 × 21.59 × 12.7 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number34-208
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 231
Collections
DescriptionIridescent green glazed pottery. Four rams in an enclosed pen, attended by a man on horseback.Gallery LabelSheep were not as widely raised in China as were pigs-even today many Chinese will not eat mutton or lamb-so these sheep were probably raised for their wool. The shepherd has mounted one of his sheep to survey his herd.
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.
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please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.
early-mid-8th century C.E.
F83-8/10
