Four Pairs around a Painted Pot: A Basin from Zongri

The object is modest in scale: a red-clay basin about eleven centimetres high, its mouth roughly twenty-four centimetres wide. An exhibit-database entry identifies it as a Neolithic Majiayao-type vessel from Zongri in Tongde County and lists Qinghai Provincial Museum as its holder. Inside, black-painted decoration forms four groups, each with two figures facing one another, bending forward and extending their arms toward a round object. Straight and crosswise lines separate the groups. The outside carries parallel bands and a hooked motif.

The repeated scene draws the eye around the basin: pair, round form, dividing lines, then another pair. A 2026 account of Zongri culture also describes the figures’ posture, while the exhibit entry records the vessel’s measurements and museum holding. The image remains compelling without assigning a name to the object at its center.

The basin was excavated at Zongri in Tongde County and is held by Qinghai Provincial Museum in Xining. Its route links an archaeological site in the upper Yellow River region with a collection in the provincial capital. Accounts of Zongri describe a river valley where Majiayao-system pottery and a distinct local ceramic style are both represented. The small basin is one object within that larger archaeological landscape.

Another basin from Zongri carries groups of linked human figures. A 2026 account published by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission describes thirteen in one group and eleven in the other. The two vessels organize people differently: paired figures bend toward a round object on one, while linked figures extend around the other. Their painted bodies, dividing lines and repeated rhythms give each basin its own visual arrangement.