One of China’s earliest and most widespread, the Yangshao culture is divided into two branches: the nuclear Yangshao culture 仰韶文化, located in Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and the subsequent Majiayao culture 马家窑文化 (or Gansu Yangshao), situated in Gansu and parts of Qinghai Province.
National Treasure 国宝
Painted Pottery Jar with Nude Figure in Relief 裸体浮雕彩陶壶
Pottery | Majiayao Culture (c.3200-2000 BC) | National Museum of China Collection, Unearthed at Liuwan, Ledu, Qinghai Province, 1974. 陶壶 | 马家窑文化（约公元前3200年一前2000年）｜国家博物馆藏，1974年青海乐都柳湾出土
The Majiayao culture was a group of neolithic communities who lived primarily in the upper Yellow River region in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai and northern Sichuan, China. The most distinctive artifacts of the Majiayao culture are the painted pottery. During the Majiayao phase, potters decorated their wares with designs in black pigment featuring sweeping parallel lines and dots. 1
The colourful pottery pot combines the artistic techniques of relief and painting, and the naked portrait creates an image of both male and female genitals in the lower abdomen. It is generally believed to be an object of worship; the bisexual figure has the ability to communicate between heaven and earth, humans and gods. Its special bas-relief suggests that it is not a household item, but a ceremonial vessel or specially made funerary object.
A sitting back view represented by a “W” stick-figure on the back of the naked-human jar appears to wrap skeletal arms and legs around the jar. The stick-figure embraces the naked- human in a display position with arms around the jar’s neck and legs around the jar’s belly, not a common embrace for two humans — with one important exception: a doula supporting a woman in labor.2
However it was also suggested that the relief resembles a naked human supported by a doula labours to give birth — one of the most intense experiences a woman can have, yet this may be the only work of art on display in a museum to immortalise the crowning moment.
Jade Male-Female Figure 双性玉人
Jade | Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-11th centuries BC), King Wu Ding’s reign(1250-1192 BC) | National Museum of China Collection, Unearthed from tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu, Anyang, Henan Province, 1976. 玉器｜商王武丁时期 （公元前1250年至公元前1192年）｜中国博物馆藏，1976年河南安阳殷墟妇好墓出土
The jade is carved on both sides, one side is a naked male and the other side is female; the fine lines and curves on the female side suggest child bearing anatomy. As this is a funerary object, it was also suggested that the pottery jar in the Neolithic Majiayao culture is also a funerary object.
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majiayao_culture ↩︎
- Michael Turk, “Majiayao Legacy” Sino-Platonic Papers, 254 (January 2015); p 33. ↩︎
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