Chinese Mortar or Grinding Vessel

A rounded, squat bowl of rough grey-brown, hollowed out like a deep thumbprint.

This stone mortar or grinding vessel is from Shandong Province, China. Shandong is a coastal province in eastern China with a very long history of agriculture and craft, in which grinding vessels were everyday household tools. A heavy, round-bellied vessel with a thick rim and a smooth, shallow cavity inside. The outside is coarse and pitted, with warm brown and grey patches. It narrows toward a small flat base. It is 14.5 inches high and 17.5 in diameter.

It looks as if it grew out of a riverbank.