Wide-mouthed jar with pictorial decoration

Compressed ovoid vessel with flat, everted rim, sloping shoulders, lower half tapering inward to a flat base, and two loop handles positioned bilaterally at the midsection; buff earthenware lightly burnished and decorated with pictorial designs painted in dark black slip on the upper half and rim before firing; painted designs include zoomorphic frog- or turtle-like creatures with human heads on one side and wavy lines reminiscent of flowing water on the other. Majiayao culture, Majiayao type. From the upper Yellow River valley region; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.