Chinese Shipwreck Funnel-Form Mercury Storage Vessel

Ringed at the top like a bamboo shoot and tapered like a tidy spinning top.

This shipwreck funnel-form mercury storage vessel is from Cizao Kilns, Fujian Province, China. It is stoneware. Funnel-shaped earthenware from the late Song or early Yuan periods is believed to have carried mercury, which alchemists long associated with immortality and which physicians prescribed for a variety of illnesses. Pointed conical vessel with a row of narrow ridges around the shoulder and a small hole at the crown. The color moves from pale gray at the top to buff and orange tones lower down. It is 4.25 inches wide, 4.25 deep and 7.5 high.

Neat grooves and a steady, patient point.