{"product_id":"antique-chinese-ceramics-154","title":"LI, Red-fired, With wooden box, Shaanxi Longshan Culture（2500–2000BCE）","description":"\u003cp\u003eA red-fired, three-legged li attributed to the Shaanxi Longshan culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe li is a cooking vessel used from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age in China, distinguished by its three bag-shaped legs. Its form was designed to receive heat from a fire efficiently, and it became one of the important early prototypes of ancient Chinese vessel types that was carried forward into later bronze vessels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present example is a red-fired li with a slightly everted rim, a rounded body, and three pouch-shaped projecting legs. The surface is covered throughout with fine vertical cord-marked smoothing traces, and the pale reddish-brown clay is overlain by white soil accretions suggesting a long period of burial. Although it lacks ornate decoration, the massing where the body gives way to the legs reveals a strong sculptural presence characteristic of ancient ceramics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe condition is exceptionally good; the body of the li shows no major loss or conspicuous repairs. For a ceramic several thousand years old, it may be described as virtually intact—an excellent state of preservation. The form, from the rim through the body to the three legs, is well preserved, making it striking both as an archaeological artifact and as a sculptural object.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA wooden box is included. On the underside of the box there is a provenance entry by an old art shop which, according to the former collection’s tradition, records \"Neolithic; found in Korea.\" However, based on the vessel’s shape, clay, and manner of manufacture, it is most naturally regarded as a typical tripod li of the Shaanxi Longshan culture, and ROCANIIRU presents it as a red-fired tripod li of that culture. The bottom slat of the box is damaged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ceramics of the Longshan culture, which flourished in the Yellow River basin of China around 2500–2000 BCE, were utilitarian yet already possessed a formal sensibility that would inform later ritual vessels and bronzes. This piece likewise retains both the practical function of a cooking vessel and the spare, abstract beauty of an ancient artifact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs an old excavated and handed-down piece, the surface shows soil encrustation, scuffs, minor abrasions, and adherent deposits. The box has damage to the bottom slat, but the li vessel itself is in very good condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ROCANIIRU COLLECTION","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52467370918169,"sku":null,"price":1314.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0688\/9911\/1193\/files\/2026060314224.jpg?v=1780490979","url":"https:\/\/rcnir.com\/en-ie\/products\/antique-chinese-ceramics-154","provider":"入蘆花（ロカニイル）","version":"1.0","type":"link"}