Perfect Form, Perfectly Spare Chinese Stoneware Ear Cup, c. 600 AD fine needlework both painted on waxed canvas

both painted on waxed canvas stretched over solid wood panel

including a few pages of advertising at the end

that also feel like contemporary artworks

with tears and rough edges here and there

large enough to read as a sign

Perfect Form, Perfectly Spare Chinese Stoneware Ear Cup, c. 600 AD fine needlework both painted on waxed canvasTo 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,