Pottery beaker with openwork base

A pottery beaker, the straight sides flaring out towards the top.  A single loop handle is applied halfway down one side.  The bottom section of the beaker is carved with a reticulated design incorporting rows of triangles and circles that create the impression of latticework.  The foot contains a number of tiny, loose clay balls.  Red pigment has been applied to the bottom part and to the top rim both on the inside and the outside.

• Dawenkou is a name given by archaeologists to a group of late Neolithic communities situated primarily in the Yellow River reaches of Shandong Province. Like other late Neolithic cultures in China, the Dawenkou had a developed agricultural system with fortified settlements, pottery and jade carving, and burials with grave goods suggesting social stratification.  The later stage of the Dawenkou culture produced mainly grey pottery vessels, like this intriguing cup, which has a number of tiny, loose clay balls in the foot that rattle when the cup is lifted and turned.  It is impossible to say whether this is just an amusing device for entertainment, or if the rattling sound was intended to alert others to the cup being lifted. According to Wang: ‘In the regions north of the Yangtze, Dawenkou pottery was among the first which made use of openwork on the foot of dou tazzas and stemcups’.1   No other cups of this highly unusual design appear to be published. 

1. Wang Qingzheng A Dictionary of Chinese Ceramics, Shanghai Museum 1989, p. 200