Blackware Bird-Shaped Vessel

Black ware pottery from the Majiayao culture. This vessel was crafted using a refined black-burnished pottery technique, with the entire surface carefully polished to a smooth, lustrous finish.

Modeled in the form of a bird, the vessel displays a smooth, polished surface that highlights the distinct sheen of black ware. A funnel-shaped spout rises from the back, its base encircled by a twisted rope-like band.

The deep, glossy black surface was achieved through firing in a reducing atmosphere, a process in which oxygen is limited inside the kiln, causing the iron content in the clay to reduce and form a dark metallic sheen.

Medium : earthenware or pottery
Type : Vessel
Size : 9cm (Height) x 11cm(Diameter)
Era : Neolithic Majiayao Culture
Condition : Good
Provenance : Acquired in late 1990s from Hongkong