MODEL OF A PEN WITH GRINDSTONE AND PESTLE

Description The rectangular pen is delimited by four walls, two of which lower in the center into an extensive arched gap. The opposite walls are completely surmounted by two long, narrow canopies with a raised ridge and small spheres applied to the ends. In the center of the pen there's a grindstone shaped object, with the lower plate milled along the contour and the upper plate raised in the center. On the side there's a pestle, enclosed between two semicircular banks. The pestle was used to clean and then crush the cereal grains to obtain semolina; the grindstone was used to grind the semolina and obtain flour. This model testifies to a culinary habit that spread in Northern and Eastern Han China, especially in the cities, and which consists in the increasingly frequent preparation of foods based on wheat flour (pasta, stuffed rolls, etc.).