Perfect Form, Perfectly Spare Chinese Stoneware Ear Cup, c. 600 AD secretary but one could also lay

but one could also lay a shelf horizontally atop them

I have not amped up the color on this guy

"Made in Japan" stamped on the bottom

One does see a fair number of cabinet cards and stereoviews of funerary flower arrangements

Perfect Form, Perfectly Spare Chinese Stoneware Ear Cup, c. 600 AD secretary but one could also layTo my eye the most perfectly minimal, perfectly proportioned shallow vessel, just what it needs to be and not a thing more, this is a very old Chinese "ear cup", c 600 AD, which I purchased from a collector, dealer and friend in Maine. Chinese ear cups, or 'erbei' in Chinese, are an ancient form, functional as vessels for drinking, but more broadly embodying Chinese philosophy, aesthetics, and social customs and exquisite craftsmanship. And indeed,