Scott No: 2270-73
Serial number: T149
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: April 10, 1990
Denomination: 108 fen
Designers: Wang Huming
Size of stamps: 30*40mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50 (10*5)
Printing process: Offset
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

The special stamp set Painted Pottery, catalog number T149, was issued on April 10, 1990. It consists of four stamps, produced using offset printing. The stamps measure 30×40 mm, with a perforation gauge of 12 degrees. Each sheet contains 50 stamps (10×5). The stamps were designed by Wang Huming and printed by Beijing Stamp Printing Works.

Thematic Focus of the Set

This stamp set selects four representative types of painted pottery from the Neolithic cultures of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, linking the development of prehistoric painted pottery. Painted pottery is an important relic of China's ancient civilization, carrying the ancestors' aesthetics, beliefs, and information about production and daily life. The stamps showcase prehistoric pottery-making techniques and primitive painting art, highlighting China's long and splendid prehistoric culture.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Banpo Type

The main subject is a painted pottery basin with a human-face and fish pattern, unearthed from the Banpo site in Xi'an, belonging to the Yangshao culture. The interior of the basin is painted with symmetrical human faces and fish patterns. It is the most classic pattern of Banpo painted pottery, embodying the ancestors' fishing and hunting life and totem worship.

Miaodigou Type

The image is a painted pottery basin with a curved belly and a variant bird pattern, belonging to the Miaodigou type of the Yangshao culture. The smooth and flowing abstract bird pattern lines are graceful and beautiful. It is a signature decoration of Miaodigou painted pottery, reflecting the evolution of Yangshao painted pottery from realism to abstract patterns.

Majiayao Type

The image is a painted pottery jar with a contracted mouth and swirling patterns, also known as the "King of Painted Pottery," unearthed in Yongjing, Gansu. The full and continuous large swirl patterns are majestic and dynamic, making it a pinnacle work of Majiayao painted pottery and representing the high level of prehistoric painted pottery in the northwest.

Machang Type

The image is a pottery jar with a deity pattern, belonging to the Machang type of the Majiayao culture. The jar body is painted with a deity figure with raised arms, accompanied by seed-like patterns, expressing the ancestors' wishes for a bountiful harvest and sacrifices to the agricultural god. It is a representative artifact of prehistoric painted pottery in the Hehuang region.

Artistic and Design Features

The set uses a realistic still-life presentation. The background is white on the top and pale blue on the bottom, clean and elegant, setting off the reddish-brown pottery bodies and black painted decorations. The four artifacts are shown from different angles, including top and side views, highlighting their forms and decorative features. The images are simple and restrained, without extraneous backgrounds, restoring the simple and substantial original texture of the painted pottery. Dignified and elegant, it highlights the mysterious beauty of ancient art.