Jar with dish-shaped mouth

According to the original documentation, this piece was found by Mr. John L. Mickalls in 1904 in Shandong province. The earthenware jar with a flaring mouth and punched cord design was a variant of an earlier form made during the Shang-Zhou period. The vessel commands attention with its dish-shaped mouth and its combination of two types of decoration—grooved bands and impressed cord designs—which were not used together until the Han period. The tendency of potters to mix these two decorative elements was firmly established in the Western Han, as this and other specimens found in Shandong have substantiated (WW 1988.10: 74, figs. 4, 5).