PAINTED ‘HU’ VASE

Description The vase has a rounded, flattened belly and a hollow, flared foot. The high neck progressively widens towards the everted rim. The walls are decorated with horizontal bands with white, red, black, pale green and 'Han purple' (a colour between grey-blue and violet) pigment that were applied after the vase was fired. The main decorative band is delimited at the top by a white stripe between two red bands and, at the bottom, by a sparing stripe between two more red bands. The painted decoration depicts a hunting scene, with a galloping knight shooting an arrow and a fallow deer turning towards its pursuer. Horse and rider stand out in white against a dark background, while a white outlines shapes the black mass of the fallow deer.