Stem Cup, Longshan culture, 2500–2000 BCE. Burnished earthenware, 22.7 x 8.41 cm. Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 2000.156.1 © Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The Longshan culture of north and northeast China is best known for its thin, hard, black-burnished pottery. Longshan potters took advantage of the new potter’s-wheel technology, well-refined clays, and high-fire kilns to create one of the most technically accomplished wares of the Neolithic era. Using fast-turning wheels, potters could create vessels with eggshell-thin walls. The bulbous stem, perforated by slits, was created on the wheel separately from the cup’s bowl, and then attached before firing. Although typically devoid of painted decoration or clay appliqué, Longshan wares were fired in a reduction-kiln atmosphere, which darkened their surfaces.

Ceremonial stem Cup, Longshan culture, 3000–2000 BCE. Burnished earthenware, 24.13 x 11.59 cm. Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 94.63 © Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Ceremonial stem Cup, Longshan culture, 2500–2000 BCE. Burnished earthenware, 18.42 x 7.94 cm. Gift of Peggy Carlisle, 93.60.1 © Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Stem Cup, Longshan culture, c. 2700–2100 BCE. Burnished black earthenware, 21.59 x 13.34 x 13.34 cm. Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 2011.42.4 © Minneapolis Institute of Art.

When distinctive black wares were first excavated in 1930, the Neolithic culture responsible for their production was named Longshan, after a nearby town in present-day Shandong Province in northeast China. Active during the third millennium B.C.E., Longshan culture thrived and its artisans produced some of the most sophisticated and elegant forms of any ancient culture. Made of fine-grained clay turned on a potter's wheel, Longshan ware is characterized by its astonishingly thin walls and bold, geometric silhouettes. As is the case with the present example, the stems of these cups often sport a bulbous embellishment, perforated by arrow slits. Although typically devoid of painted decoration or clay appliqué, Longshan wares were fired in a reduction kiln atmosphere which darkened their surfaces. With burnishing, the surface took a handsome metallic sheen.