Thailand, Udon Thani Province. The 3000-year-old vase of ovoid form with broad shoulders and waisted neck terminating in an everted rim, the base rounded, painted with red lines forming a spiral to the body and with geometric bands around the neck and upper rim.

Provenance: From an old private collection in a French castle. According to the previous owner’s family, the iron stand was fitted in the first half of the 20^th century. An old collector’s number ‘M2669’ below the rim of the vase.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, traces of use, signs of weathering, encrustations, repairs and touchups to the sides, light scratches.

Weight: 7.9 kg (excl. stand), 8.9 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: 44 cm (excl. stand), 60.5 cm (incl. stand)

With a wrought iron stand. (2)

Ban Chiang denotes an archeological site located in Nong Han district, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. Discovered in 1957, the site attracted enormous publicity due to its distinctive red painted pottery. During the first formal scientific excavation in 1967, archaeologists unearthed several skeletons, together with bronze grave gifts and unglazed earthenware pots which had been low-fired and painted red with unique, highly expressive and characteristic designs.

A subsequent excavation at Ban Chiang in 1974-1975 was followed by an article by Chester Gorman and Pisit Charoenwongsa, claiming evidence for the earliest dates in the world for bronze casting and iron working. Subsequent excavations, including that at Ban Non Wat, have now shown that the proposed early dates for Ban Chiang are unlikely. The first dating of the artifacts used the thermoluminescence technique, resulting in a range from 4420-3400 BC, which would have made the site the earliest Bronze Age culture in the world. These dates stirred worldwide interest. Thermoluminescence dating of pottery was at the time an experimental technique and had been applied to Ban Chiang sherds of uncertain provenance. However, with the 1974-1975 excavation, sufficient material became available for radiocarbon dating. Re-analysis by radiocarbon dating suggested that a more likely date for the earliest metallurgy at Ban Chiang was c. 2000-1700 BC. A date of 2100 BC was obtained from rice phytoliths taken from inside a vessel taken from the lowest grave, which had no metal remains. The youngest grave was about 200 AD. Bronze making began circa 2000 BCE as evidenced by crucibles and other fragments. A contrasting analysis was conducted by Charles Higham of the University of Otago using the bones of the people who lived at Ban Chiang and the bones of animals interred with them. The resulting determinations were analyzed using Bayesian statistics and the results suggested that the initial settlement of Ban Chiang took place about 1500 BC, with the transition to the Bronze Age about 1000 BC. The chronology of Ban Chiang metallurgy is still in considerable dispute.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related vase dated 5^th century BC-5^th century AD in the British Museum, registration number 1974,0617.1.