
Collection Online as of January 28, 2023
Part of a set. See all set records
Amber-brown glazed low-fired pottery
Overall: 19 x 11.7 x 13.6 cm (7 1/2 x 4 5/8 x 5 3/8 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.178.1
not on view
Pottery vessels in the shape of owls were made since Neolithic times and throughout the Bronze age. These jars in the form of vigilant owls may have provided a tomb occupant with grain in the afterlife. However, the meaning of these mysterious birds and the association of the owl motif with burial sites in China is not fully understood.