A large black 'eggshell' pottery cup, Longshan culture, c. 2500-2000 BC 龍山文化 蛋殼黑陶盃

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A large black 'eggshell' pottery cup,
Longshan culture, c. 2500-2000 BC
龍山文化 蛋殼黑陶盃

h. 10.7 cm

Condition Report:
A small chip to the footring (approx. 1cm long); expected sympathetic restoration, typically to works of this period.
足圈一條淺磕，約1cm長；此類時期作品典型常見經精修。

Catalogue Note:
The present handled cup is a rare example of a wheel-turned pottery vessel of the Longshan culture. It is exceptionally fine for its even potting, paper-thin walls and glossy black sheen. The use of the potter's wheel was a technological breakthrough during this period which enabled more sophisticated forming than the coil-built method traditionally used (Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2006, vol. 3 (I), p. 46). The Longshan potters utilised this new technique to create eggshell-thin vessels of breathtaking elegance, shaving the walls to minimal thickness with the help of a tool.

The subtly waisted cup is minimally adorned with horizontal strings. The simplicity of the design and the quintessential functionality is underlined by the double-strand handle, which is carefully balanced by a small boss on the opposite side. Compare a Longshan culture black 'eggshell' pottery handled cup, also adorned with a small boss excavated from Shandong, included in Shandong shiqian taoqi tulu [A catalogue of prehistoric pottery of Shandong], Jinan, 1986, p. 130, and illustrated again in Ronald W. Longsdorf, op.cit., p. 150, fig. 3.

此龍山文化陶盃以快輪拉坯製成，極爲珍罕，壁薄匀稱，光澤明亮，展現陶匠絕藝。快輪拉坯乃該時期之重要技術突破，比較傳統泥條盤築法，成器更見精巧（康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2006年，卷3（I），頁46）。龍山文化陶匠善用新技，所出陶器優雅絕倫，以快輪之助，成纖薄器壁。

此盃器身妙添平行幼線，凸顯稍微束腰，一側配單環耳，與另一面的小撮陶泥暗相呼應，造型雖簡，透露匠心獨運。參考山東出土一龍山文化蛋殼黑陶單耳盃，一側同樣飾以小撮陶泥，收入《山東史前陶瓷圖錄》，濟南，1986年，頁130，又刊於 Ronald W. Longsdorf，前述出處，頁150，圖3。