How did Han dynasty hu vases copy earlier bronze containers?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Neolithic Banshan pottery: funerary urn — Chinese pottery Painted Pottery funerary urn, Neolithic Banshan phase, c. 3000 bce, from Yangshao, Henan province, China; in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. Height 13.2 inches (33.5 cm).

During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the hu—a common baluster-shaped vase—was explicitly modeled after bronze vessels of the same name.12

Potters replicated these earlier bronze containers through two primary methods:

Form: They adopted the specific baluster shape characteristic of the original bronze vessels.12
Decoration: They frequently incorporated relief ornaments in friezes that were taken directly from the designs found on bronze originals.12

This practice of imitating metalwork was not limited to the hu vase; for example, Yue ware kilns of the Eastern Han also produced hard stoneware that imitated the shapes of bronze vessels and featured impressed, bronzelike designs under a thin olive glaze.1