Period: Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.)
Dimension: H.26.6cm, L. of neck. 13cm, Mouth Dia. 4cm
Provenance: Unearthed from the No.8 burial pit of the Sijiangou tomb complex at Zhicheng, Jiyuan, Henan Province, 1969

Featuring a globular form, a small mouth, long neck, spherical body supported by three short beast form feet, covered entirely by dark green glaze except for the base. A band of bowstring was carved in the central part of the neck, the shoulder and belly were separately adorned with a circle of raised stripes, the vessel is a lead glaze pottery funerary object of the late Western Han dynasty.

As one of a traditional rites and games for feast in China, the pitch-pot game was played in the Spring and Autumn period throughout the end of Qing dynasty. The pitch-pot ceremonial originated from the ritual of archery. Due to the limited space of the courtyard, or the people who were unfit for archery, pitch-pot was introduced to replace shooting to ritually entertain the guests. Though evolved from the initial ceremonial into a recreational game, pitch-pot did not completely break away from the “ceremonial”, always followed a set of extravagant rites, which resulted in the gradually limited playing scope, and was exclusively confined in the circle of the official-scholars. At the end of the Qing dynasty, with the introduction of the Western modern sports game, pitch-pot game finally withdrew from the historical arena.