Inscribed ear-cup unearthed from Barrow №1 of Duurlig Nars, Mongolia

Abstract This paper reports the discovery of a lacquered ear-cup with a Chinese inscription, unearthed from Barrow №1 in Duurlig Nars, Mongolia. Duurlig Nars is an elite kurgan complex in northeastern Mongolia. The cup is broken, but twenty characters remain on the fragments. The middle part of the inscription has been lost, but it could be discerned that the cup was made in the central factory for the emperor’s use. This cup is the tenth piece of lacquerware bearing a Chinese inscription that, has been unearthed at Xiongnu archaeological sites. In addition to reading the inscription, we made a slide from a lacquer flake; and observed the cup’s lacquering technique. It is impossible to determine where the lacquering of the slide corresponds of the cup, but there are three layers: an undercoating, a black lacquer, and an uncolored lacquer. This observation is important for understanding ancient East Asian lacquering techniques.