Eggshell pottery that has been sung for thousands of years

Less than 0.2 mm of delicacy, black as lacquer as a mirror, sound as hard as porcelain... What kind of understanding do you have about Thin, is it as thin as the lips of money? Thin as a cicada wing? It is even less than 0.2 mm.

More than 4,000 years ago, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in China, during the Longshan culture period, the most rustic materials met the peak of craftsmanship, and a very small number of thin-walled black pottery cups were unearthed, leaving a unique song for thousands of years.

Black pottery eggshell perforated high-handled cup (referred to as eggshell pottery)

Age: Yongsan culture (about 4500 years ago)

Excavation date: April 1973

Land: Linyi Dafanzhuang Ruins (now on the second and third floors of the Municipal Museum)

Specifications: Height 14.2cm, caliber 12.0cm

Material: Black Taut

Origins: Early civilization of the earth, the masterpiece of the ancients eggshell pottery

The early civilization of the earth was illuminated by the rustic luster emitted by pottery, and the black pottery cup of the Longshan era was even more distinctive in the faience world, and today we are talking about a piece of pottery.

Its walls are very thin, the thinnest edge of the mouth is less than 0.2 mm, the height is about 20 cm, its weight is only 50 grams, and the eyes at the hollow are super small, which is really a masterpiece of the ancients!

The most beautiful black pottery eggshell perforated high-handled cup in eggshell pottery, because the weight is as light as an eggshell, it is referred to as "eggshell pottery". Born more than 4,000 years ago, the eggshell pottery cup, with different shapes and thin tire molding, is the world's earliest model of using fast wheel technology, and can be called the most exquisite production of earth civilization more than 4,000 years ago... This is the praise of the world archaeological community for the Black Pottery Cup of the Yongsan Era.

In the municipal museum, the collection of eggshell pottery accounts for about 60% of the country, only in 1973 Hedong Dafanzhuang site excavated as many as 30 pieces at a time, its distribution in Linyi is the largest, each piece is exquisitely made, black and bright, smooth as new, light as if there is no weight, coupled with a dark and shiny appearance and slender and uniform string decoration, it is perfect.

According to the staff, in the existing collection of Linyi City Museum, 13 pieces have been rated as national first-class cultural relics, and the ultimate craftsmanship makes the black pottery cup unique in the world. People have tried to restore their original craftsmanship with modern technical means, but it is still difficult to achieve such an extreme thinness, so it is not an exaggeration to call it "the pinnacle of pottery history". This alone deserves the pride and pride of every Linyi person.

Uses: Monopoly of a specific class, a "ceremonial vessel" (sacrificial wine vessel)

Such an extreme, presumably a lot of manpower and material resources, for what purpose to manufacture? Is such a superbly crafted pottery a work of art or a practical product? Perhaps only the "ceremonial vessel" can reasonably explain its magical existence. The use of standardized systems and artifacts with the ultimate level of craftsmanship to express the rituals in the sacrifice is an appeal of power and hierarchy.

According to the staff of the Municipal Museum, "eggshell pottery" is a high-grade ceremonial vessel for sacrificing wine. In the Longshan cultural era, pottery production moved from casual to strict craftsmanship, indicating the gradual formation of a new order in human society.

In the tombs of the Longshan culture, the burial products belonging to the eggshell pottery are very rich, as a drinking instrument, it does not mean that the owner of the tomb is an alcoholic, but symbolizes the wealth and status of the deceased before he died. Wine was definitely a luxury in the Longshan cultural period, and after the differentiation between rich and poor and the emergence of a privileged class, wine with scarce output and high cost became the exclusive product of the privileged class.

According to the "Later Han Shu Dongyi Biography", "Dongyi rate is indigenous, and likes to drink and sing. Back more than 4,000 years ago, "eggshell pottery" as a kind of wine utensils, black and bright high-handled cups seem to prove that the winemaking industry in the Longshan culture period may no longer be the initial stage, and there should have been a long process of invention and development before.

Wine, which contains the spiritual fire of creativity, the fragrance of wisdom, and those who drink well will get its true meaning from it. From the eggshell high-handled cup, we have already seen the abuse of Linyi's prehistoric wine culture.

Craftsmanship: Pieces contain faith and reverence

The magic of the eggshell black pottery cup is not in its use, but in its production. Approaching the pottery, from the bottom of the pottery we can clearly see the traces of the fast wheel making, and also just show the traces of its wheeling. The material of the black pottery eggshell cup is all fine clay black clay, without any impurities. It uses precipitated fine mud powder as a blank, after rapid rotation and manual part-making and other procedures, with superb kiln technology and fire control, and finally create this cup of small wall thin, complex structure, surface polishing, black and delicate, beautiful shape of the "eggshell pottery". Just imagine, such a thin-walled ceramic tire, when making rapid rotation, is very easy to break, so this kind of small utensils, the precision of the production equipment and the stability of rotation, the requirements are very strict. Since no kiln site has been found so far, how did these power devices work more than 4,000 years ago? We can only stop at imagination at the moment. The rustic material of eggshell pottery is the ultimate that can be achieved in that ancient period, the shape of the utensils, the fine hardness after molding, the temperature of the kiln and the grasp of the firing time... All of these factors determine the ultimate fate of the pottery.

"Eggshell pottery" is the representative work of our ancestors in the ancient pottery industry, which can be described as the "Dashao" in the song, which is known as "the most exquisite representative of the four thousand years of earth civilization". Unfortunately, either because of the high craftsmanship, the difficulty of technology, or the rise of bronze, or for other reasons that history has not specified, "eggshell pottery" appeared in the Longshan culture, leading the way for 1,000 years, but it disappeared when it came to the Yueshi culture.

Liu Yue, a reporter for the financial media