Thai Ban Chiang Red-on-Buff Pedestal Bowl | Wave and Spiral Motifs

Southeast Asia, Thailand, Ban Chiang culture. A pedestal bowl made of hand-built earthenware. Its deep, rounded bowl has a thick rolled rim and sits on a short, waisted stem that flares out into a wide disc foot. A buff slip covers the bowl, and around its shoulder runs a continuous band of undulating waves, each one made of parallel red-painted lines inside an incised outline and ending in hooked curls. The stem and foot are painted a deeper red, with incised spirals on the stem and a ring of triangles on the foot. The red pigment is most likely an iron-rich ochre. Swirling, flowing patterns like these are typical of the late painted wares of the Ban Chiang tradition. Footed bowls of this kind come mostly from burials, where they were probably placed as offerings, though the source record says nothing about how this one was used. Ban Chiang, a village in the Udon Thani province of northeastern Thailand, became famous in 1966 when a young American, Stephen Young, tripped over potsherds coming out of a village path. Excavations in the 1970s revealed a long sequence of burials with bronze, iron, and pottery, and in 1992 UNESCO named the site a World Heritage Site. Its best-known product is the red-on-buff painted pottery of the Late Period. This pottery is covered in curvilinear designs, such as spirals, scrolls, and wave-like meanders, applied freehand in ochre. These designs have become the visual signature of prehistoric Thailand. Item # 205632

Estimate:£226.77

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