Visitor to the museum see this as a beautiful piece of Neolithic pottery with a cute design. Little diid they realised that this was actually part of a child’s coffin.
National Treasure 国宝
Human-Faced Fish Decoration Pottery Bowl 人面鱼纹彩陶盆
Pottery | Pre-Neolithic • Yangshao Culture (c.5000-3000 BC) | H: 16.5 cm, D: 39.8 cm | 1955 unearthed in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province | Collection of the National Museum of China. 陶器｜新石器时代前期 – 仰韶文化（约公元前5000年一前3000年）｜高16.5厘米，口径39.8厘米｜1955年陕西省西安市半坡出土｜中国国家博物馆藏
The painted pottery of the Yangshao culture features numerous animal motifs, such as fish, deer, and frogs, with fish patterns being the most typical. The painted pottery basin with a human face and fish motif is recognised as a masterpiece of painted pottery art. Many similar painted pottery basins have been unearthed at the site, often used as coffin lids for children, resembling a specially made burial container.
This painted pottery basin is red with intermittent black bands along the rim. The inner wall is decorated with two symmetrical human-faced fish motifs in black. The human faces are round, with a pointed, hair-like ornament and fish-fin-shaped decorations on their heads. The right half of the forehead is painted black, while the left half is a black semi-circle. The eyes are narrow and straight, seemingly closed. The nose is straight, forming an inverted “T” shape. A stylised fish motif flanks the mouth, its head overlapping the outer contour of the mouth, suggesting two large fish are being held within. Additionally, two smaller fish are positioned opposite each other near the ears, creating a unique human-fish hybrid. Between the two faces, two large fish appear to be chasing each other. The overall composition is free and dynamic, simple yet full of fantastical elements.1
Among the more than 1,000 Yangshao culture sites discovered so far, a large number of pottery pieces with fish patterns have been unearthed. Scholars believe that this type of pottery originated from a clan that used fish as its emblem. The painted pottery fish patterns of this period already possessed the subjective characteristics of Eastern art.2 Painted pottery basins with human-faced fish patterns, as well as other patterns featuring human faces, fish, frogs, etc., have been found at sites such as Banpo, Jiangzhai, and Beishouling.3
Pottery Basin with Human Face and Fish Pattern 人面鱼纹盆
Pottery | Neolithic Age | Excavated from Jiangzhai Site, Lintong District, Xian City | Shaanxi Provincial History Museum Collection. 陶器｜新石器时代｜西安市临潼区姜寨遗址出土｜陕西历史博物馆藏
As a masterpiece of the painted pottery, the human-face-and-fish-designed basin is often found to be used as the cover of children burial jars. The tiny holes bored at its bottom may allow the soul of the deceased in and out in the primitive belief. The interior pattern of human face surrounded by fish may symbolise a clan totem or the living’s blessing for the dead or the elderly affection for the young.4
Both basins feature the human face as a composite of a human and a fish, with unique head attire, resembling makeup for some religious activity, exhibiting characteristics of a shaman. Therefore, such images are generally interpreted as symbolising a shaman invoking a fish god to possess a child who died young, praying for their soul’s salvation. Others believe that the coexistence of the human face and fish motif, forming a human-fish composite, signifies that the fish had been fully deified, possibly worshipped as a totem.5
The Banpo People
The Banpo people were a Neolithic, matriarchal community (circa 4500–3500 B.C.) belonging to the Yangshao culture, located near modern-day Xi’an, China. They lived in a settled, communal village, farming millet, raising pigs, hunting, fishing, and producing distinct painted pottery. Their society featured strong, woman-led roles.
The ancient Banpo people painted fish and net patterns on many pottery basins, which should be related to the totem worship and economic life at that time. The Banpo people built settlements on river terraces and lived a settled life with agriculture as the main industry, while also engaging in gathering and hunting. This fish pattern decoration is a reflection of their life.6
The urn coffin, as a special burial container, was used from the early Neolithic period to the late Neolithic period. In that primitive society where life was insecure and the mortality rate was extremely high, human life was very short, and birth and death went hand in hand.
The emergence of this “urn coffin” burial form, along with the later stone coffins and wooden coffins, shared a common belief and concept of the “immortality of the soul.” Therefore, burying infants who died young in colourful pottery urns shaped like gourds contained a metaphorical hope among primitive ancestors that their deceased children could be reborn.7
All photos taken at National Museum of China Nov 2025, Shaanxi Provincial History Museum Mar 2024, unless otherwise noted.
About Chinese Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese 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 :
- 人面鱼纹彩陶盆
新石器时代前期•仰韶文化 | 高16.5厘米，口径39.8厘米 | 1955年陕西省西安市半坡出
此彩陶盆呈红色，口沿处绘间断黑彩带，内壁以黑彩绘出两组对称人面鱼纹。人面星圆形，头顶有似发髻的尖状物和鱼鳍形装饰。前额右半部涂黑，左半部为黑色半弧形。眼睛细而平直，似闭目状。鼻梁挺直，成倒立的“T”字形。嘴巴左右两侧分置一条变形鱼纹，鱼头与人嘴外廓重合，似乎是口内同时衔着两条大鱼。另外，在人面双耳部位也有相对的两条小鱼分置左右，从而构成形象奇特的人鱼合体。在两个人面之间，有两条大鱼作相互追逐状。整个画面构图自由，极富动感，图案简洁并充满奇幻色彩。 ↩︎ - 在目前发现的一千多处仰韶文化遗址中，鱼纹为主的陶器大量出土，学术界认为这类陶器源于一个以鱼为族徽的氏族，这一时期的彩陶鱼纹饰便已经具备东方艺术的主观性特征。https://www.htu.edu.cn/hnscxh/2021/1111/c14002a227129/page.htm, accessed 2 Feb 2026 ↩︎
- 人面鱼纹，以及其他带有人面、鱼、蛙等图案的彩陶盆在半坡遗址、姜寨遗址、北首岭遗址等都有所发现。https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/人面鱼纹彩陶盆, accessed 2 Feb 2026 ↩︎
- 人面鱼纹盆
新石器时代 | 西安市临潼区姜寨遗址出土
人面鱼纹盆是彩陶的代表作之一。目前所见多用作仰韶文化半坡类型孩童葬具“瓮棺”的顶盖。陶盆底部留有小孔，先民认为可供死者灵魂出入。内壁绘鱼群围绕的人面，应是当时的一种图腾，或包含着生者对亡者的祝福和长者对晚辈的亲情。 ↩︎ - 仰韶文化的彩陶图案中有大量的动物形纹饰，如鱼、鹿、蛙等，以鱼纹最为典型。人面鱼纹彩陶盆是公认的彩陶艺术精品。类似内容的彩陶盆在遗址中出土了很多件，多作儿童棺的棺盖来使用，很像一种特制的葬具。人面由人鱼合体而成，人头装束奇特，像是进行某种宗教活动的化妆形象，具有巫师的身份特征，因此这类图画一般被认象征着巫师请鱼神附体，为天折的儿童招魂祈福。也有人认为人面与鱼纹共存构成人鱼合体，寓意鱼已经被充分神化，可能是作为图腾来加以崇拜。 ↩︎
- 古代半坡人在许多陶盆上都画有鱼纹和网纹图案，这应与当时的图腾崇拜和经济生活有关，半坡人在河谷阶地营建聚落，过着以农业生产为主的定居生活，兼营采集和渔猎，这种鱼纹装饰是他们生活的写照。 ↩︎
- 瓮棺作为一种特殊的葬具，它的使用从新石器早期一直延续到新石器晚期。在那个生命得不到保障、死亡率极高的原始社会，人的生命是非常短暂的，生与死结伴而行，这种“瓮棺”墓葬形式的出现与后期的石棺、木棺都具有共同的“灵魂不灭”的信仰和观念。故将夭折的婴孩放入形似葫芦的彩色陶瓮中埋葬，这蕴含着原始先民期望已经逝去的孩子能够重生的隐喻。 ↩︎
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