Chinese Rough-Hewn Trough

Somebody spent a very long time persuading this stone to hold water.

This rough-hewn trough is stone, from Shandong Province, China, 16th to 17th century. Stone troughs were everyday equipment on Chinese farms and in courtyards, usually for watering or feeding animals or holding water. This one is long, straight-sided and shallow, with a flat, even rim set off by an incised line. Peck marks cover the outer face and the inner walls, giving the pale surface a coarse, pitted texture. At one corner the stone breaks into a lumpy, unworked knob. Over seven and a half feet long at 92 inches.

Moving it will require friends.