Page 114 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

2/a

27
Two painted pottery pen basins that contained the pan decorated with the figure
2
of a coiled serpent (cat. 25). The pattern on the
a. Height 18.2 (7'A), diam. at mouth 46.5 (iSYs) outside of the basin consists of juxtaposed, diago-
1
3
b. Height 21 (S /*), diam. at mouth 31.5 (i2 / 8)
nally oriented units alternating in black and white,
Late Neolithic Period, Taosi Longshan Culture
each the mirror-reverse of the one adjacent. They
(c. 2500-2000 BCE)
interlock with the pink ground like pieces of a
From Taosi, Xiangfen, Shanxi Province
jigsaw puzzle. The effect of these patterns is made
The Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Beijing more dramatic by the fact that the remaining sur-
face — the interior, rim, and base — are all painted
The final two vessels from Taosi introduce painted black. The unusual size of the basin suggests that
designs unlike any seen before on Neolithic Chinese it may have been intended for a ceremony at which
ceramics. These additions to the common fare reflect a large number of people were present. A pen of
a prosperous society able to indulge the demands of the same shape but of slightly smaller diameter
a sophisticated elite clientele with a taste for innova- was recovered from another large, richly furnished
tion and a wider range of decorative modes. grave discovered at the cemetery (M mi). 3
4
1
The first vessel (a) comes from a large, high- The pattern on the second vessel (b) consists
status burial, which was located next to the one of adjacent sets of ribbonlike bands, again oriented

113 | TAOS I LONCSHA N C U L T U R E