Lot 1. Two rare black pottery stemcups, Neolithic, Dawenkou and Longshan Cultures (2900-2400 BC and 2500-2000 BC), 12 1/2 and 10 1/2 in., 31.7 and 26.7 cm. Estimate 4,000 — 5,000 USD. Lot sold 8,400 USD. © Sotheby's.

one supported on three tall and thin incurving blade-like feet, rising to a hollow stem interrupted by a round bulb, and surmounted by a deep cup with a trumpet mouth, the burnished black surface further decorated with horizontal bands of diagonal lines and circles, the other delicately potted with eggshell-thin sides, the deep U-shaped cup with a wide everted rim, supported on a hollow stem with a bulging belly pierced with rows of small pinholes, all resting on a circular platform foot, the surface burnished black (2).

Note: It is extremely rare to find a Dawenkou stemcup with three-pronged foot, attributed to the earliest phase, and a line drawing is illustrated by KC Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, New Haven, 1986, fig.136. A Longshan stemcup of this type with a different treatment of the bulbous stem is illustrated Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan. Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, no.075. Compare one illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.1, London, 1994, pl. 39; and another was sold in these rooms, 22nd March 2000, lot 76.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005