Keeping up with the day’s activities and having time to reflect has been challenging. It’s 11pm and I’m just now writing about this visit a couple of days ago in Xi’an.
The guide book says some may feel underwhelmed by the museum and preserved foundations. But my skin tingled thinking about being in this very spot 6,000 years ago. Building a shelter, finding food, water, making a fire, fighting wildcats and bears. We are told it is believed to have been matriarchal because the burial sites have the remains of women lined up with vessels alongside.
In fact there is a variety and number of clay vessels that keeps me drawing and photographing the pieces. The larger ones have lids that were used to bury babies. Inside one of these is a drawing that seems to show the face of a child, eyes closed, with fish on either side of the head, and a large fish shape across the bottom.
And there are so many clay pots. Xi’an is a city of clay. Deep yellow. I want to work more in clay. So ancient.
Dear Angela, thank you for posting these pictures, they are very interesting. I am a scholar, currently assisting with the publication of a book on ancient vessels and I would be very interested in using one of your pictures for our book. This project is financed by the German Institute for Art History in Florence (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut) and the State Museums of Berlin (SMB). If you are interested please contact me: https://www.khi.fi.it/en/institut/mitarbeiter/gilodi-irene.php
Amazing.