The pottery-making technology of Yangshao culture is quite mature, and the utensils are neat and exquisite, mostly fine clay red pottery and mixed sand red pottery, while gray pottery and black pottery are rare. Its decoration is mainly painting, with exquisite color patterns painted on objects, which reflects a part of people's life and the originality of artistic creation at that time. In particular, the Banpo pot and the noodle fish pot of Yangshao culture are the most distinctive and intriguing.

Painted pottery basin with fish pattern on its surface is16.5cm in height and 39.5cm in diameter, made of fine mud and red pottery. Two groups of symmetrical fish lines on the inner wall of the basin are drawn in black. The face is round, the left side of the forehead is painted black, and the right side is painted black and semi-arc. The characters have slender eyes, straight nose and serene expression, and there are two deformed fishing lines beside their mouths. The fish head overlaps with the outline of human mouth, and two small fish opposite ears form a unique mermaid combination, which shows the rich imagination of the producers.

The sharp corner on the human head may be a bun, and with the fin-like decoration, it looks even more gorgeous. This peculiar decoration is probably a cosmetic image for some religious activities. The slightly deformed fish pattern probably represents the image of "fish god" and expresses the worship theme of people taking fish as totem.

The theme of man and fish in painted pottery basin with fish pattern on human face may be related to the totem worship and economic life of Banpo people in ancient times. This fish pattern decoration is a portrayal of their lives and also symbolizes people's good wishes for prosperity.