An incised grey pottery cup, Dawenkou culture, c. 2500 BC 大汶口文化 灰陶刻紋高足盃

With a distinctive silhouette and subtly incised with geometrical symbols, the present pottery cup probably belongs to the category of ritual objects, which became popular among the upper class in the late Neolithic period. It is believed that such items were used in ancestral ceremonies, banquets, warfare and burial rituals, to display the social status and power of the owners. 

A similar Dawenkou-culture grey pottery example is illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 1: Early Wares: Prehistoric to Tenth Century, Taipei, 1991, p. 24 (bottom). See also a slightly shorter Dawenkou black pottery example excavated from Pei county in Jiangsu, included in Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum, vol. I: The Neolithic Period to Five Dynasties, Beijing, 2021, no. 029.

新石器時代晚期，隨著氏族貴冑的出現，禮器應運而生，用於祭祀、宴饗、征伐與喪葬等儀式上，以展示身份、權力與地位。此灰陶高足盃應是禮器之屬，器形突出，上刻符號紋飾，簡樸之餘，更顯莊嚴。

對比大汶口文化灰陶例，錄於劉良佑，《中國歷代陶瓷鑑賞》，卷1：史前-五代，台北，1991年，頁24（下）。另可參考江蘇邳縣出土黑陶例，較矮，收入《故宮陶瓷館》，卷1：新石器時代至五代，北京，2021年，編號029。