Jar with two animal-head handles

The mat design was a common ornament in southern high-fired earthenware from the neolithic period forward. The animal-head handled pou, a Shang-Zhou bronze shape of the north, was re-created in ceramics of southern manufacture from the time of the Western Zhou. The idea to unify both was a Zhejiang innovation. Technically, the type of glazed earthenware seen in this piece was related to glazed stoneware, both having produced similar shapes. This type of pou, created during the Warring States period, foreshadowed the mass production of similar versions during the Han dynasty.