This buff-red earthenware jar has a slightly flared mouth and two lugs attached to the waist. The upper half of vessel is slip-painted (painted in liquid clay) in black and purple with a motif consisting of bold curvilinear bands and circles filled in with a checker-board pattern. Earthenware jars of this type were made by coiling and the decoration is applied with a soft brush.The western Yangshao culture also known as Majiayao culture developed in several phases for over one thousand years in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia provinces. Earlier Majiayao designs with parallel, curving and cross-hatched lines were painted on buff or reddish pottery as seen in this example.
