Pair of pots for food offering

This pair of pots comes from a grave in China. They originally held a food offering for the soul of the deceased to eat in the afterlife.

The pots are made of glazed porcelain. They are slender, with tall thin necks and oval bodies. An applied figure of a dragon (mang) coils around the neck of each pot. They have conical lids, ending in a flame-shaped motif.

In China, from at least as early as 1500 BC, people buried offerings of real or model food for the dead to have in the afterlife. During the Sung dynasty it was customary to include a pair of these pots in the grave goods.

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