【Period】:Kingdom of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period
【CAT】 :Porcelain
【Size】 :Height 41.8cm, mouth diameter 22.8cm, base diameter 14.2cm
Excavated from a tomb of the Kingdom of Wu at Shangfang in Jiangning District of Nanjing. Collected by the Oriental Metropolitan Museum/The 3rd-6th Ce
This celadon soul jar features a paste-on-paste decoration of various well-positioned figures, birds, buildings, and pavilions on its shoulder. Stamped ornaments are simply stuck on the belly of the jar. This jar’s unique style of a complicated upper part and a simple lower part reflects an artistic treatment of part and whole, making it a distinctive masterpiece among the celadon works of art of the Six Dynasties. Soul jars are a type of burial object prevalent during the period of the Three Kingdoms and the Western and Eastern Jin dynasties. Deriving its shape from five-collected jars of the Han dynasty, a soul jar is famous for its rich decorations and extremely complicated shaping process. Its decorative style of integrating various subjects is closely related to the wish of the people at that time for their souls to go to heaven after their death, thus reflecting the characteristics of the times.