Cup, Longshan Culture

The Longshan 龍山 culture developed on the lower then central course of the Yellow River from the middle of the third millennium BC. It was discovered in the 1930s.

Due to its extremely thin walls, turned in meticulously prepared homogeneous clay, this cup, blackened by smoking during firing, then carefully polished, belongs to the prestigious funerary furniture.

Its clean profile, with its angular foot, is similar to that of a more slender cup, unearthed from the site of Chengzi 呈子 in the south-east of Shandong. These two cups are representative of the early stage of development of long-stemmed cups of the Longshan culture originating from those created by the Dawenkou 大汶口 culture (ca. 4100-2600 BC).

These fragile cups were reserved for funerals and buried with the deceased. It is now known that some of them contained alcohol and could have been used during funeral banquets or as libations at the tomb.

Cartel:

Cut
Terracotta, North China, probably Shandong
Longshan Culture (c. 2600-1900 BC)
H. 17,8 cm; D.max. 6,3cm

MC 9908

Gift of the Society of Friends of the Cernuschi Museum, 1993

Photo credit :
© Paris Museums / Cernuschi Museum

Footed Goblet (Username), -3000. Black terracotta, turned ceramic. Cernuschi Museum, Museum of Asian Arts of the City of Paris.

Footed Goblet (Username), -3000. Black terracotta, turned ceramic. Cernuschi Museum, Museum of Asian Arts of the City of Paris.