A LARGE AND RARE BLACK-PAINTED POTTERY JAR Qinghai/Gansu region, circa 1000 B.C.Important works of art from an American private collectionA LARGE AND RARE BLACK-PAINTED POTTERY JARQinghai/Gansu region, circa 1000 B.C.Well-potted with broad shoulders rising from a narrow flat base, boldly painted with three registers of scrolls reserved on a black ground, the short neck with molded lip painted with vertical flutes, above a frieze of painted crosshatch pattern and a narrow ridge of crimped "piecrust" ornament, the interior of the wide collar painted with overlapping arcs, a pair of loop handles at waist, the buff pottery body burnt orange-red in some areas. 26 1/2in (67.3cm) high; 17 1/2in (44.8cm) diamProvenanceJ. J. Lally & Co., New York, July 2011A large Neolithic jar of this form is illustrated in Qinghai Liuwan (Excavation of a Primitive Society Cemetery at Liuwan in Qinghai), Vol. II, Beijing, 1983, pl. 155, no. 2, identified as Majiayao culture, Machang type. Compare the similar painted scroll pattern illustrated by Liu in Qinghai caitao wenshi (Painted Pottery Patterns from Qinghai), Xining, 1989, figs. 224-226, described as Kayue culture, a bronze culture active in the upper Yellow River basin in Qinghai province circa 1000 B.C.The result of the thermoluminescence test is consistent with the dating of this piece, Oxford Authentication number C111f90.