The first ceramics produced in China around ten or eleven thousand years ago were wares designed for use and this early role for basic pottery has never diminished. However in neolithic times thin-walled, painted, and burnished earthenwares, some of intricate shapes were being used as ritual vessels in various Neolithic cultures located along the Yellow and Yangtze river valleys.
This vessel dates to the Machang Phase (circa 2300 – 2000 BC.) of the Majiayao culture, also known as the Gansu-Yangshao culture, from present day Gansu or Qinghai province.
