Green-glazed Han dynasty stoneware jar with animal mask handles

A large green-glazed stoneware jar, Han dynasty of ovoid form, the sides encircled with three horizontal raised bands and set with double loop handles springing from animal masks and with pendant rings, below a band of wavy combing at the base of the waisted neck and repeated around the flared mouth, the upper body covered with an olive-green glaze, fitted box 45 cm high. Other Notes: The dating of this jar is consistent with an Oxford Authentication Thermoluminescence report accompanying the lot. Compare with a jar of smaller size sold Sotheby's New York, 19 March 2013 lot 19 Similar jars are in the Shaanxi History Museum, Catalogue p. 118; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, no.C. 138-1913; and in the Asian Art Museum San Francisco illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics from the Avery Brundage Collection, p. 78, fig. 85