Funerary vase, China, 1201-1400
Funerary vases or urns hold ashes after a cremation. They are found worldwide and are still used. The owner of this tall pottery vase may have been wealthy or important. It is elaborately decorated with a circle of robed figures and assorted birds, dragons and animals. The vase was acquired by the Wellcome collections in 1930 through the auction house Sotheby’s.
Object number:
A657048
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: cremation
The deliberate burning of a dead body at high temperatures to reduce it to ashes and fragments. These may be collected, containerised and then buried.
Glossary: mourning
Trial term S&H
Glossary: sepulchral vase
Piece of sepulchral sculpture in the form of a vase form part of a tomb