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stem cup

• Object type

  • stem cup

• Museum number

  PDF,A.670

• Description

  Stem porcelain cup. Underglaze blue with numerous actual and mythical animals in reserve against blue waves. Same decoration continues on stem. Central roundel with reserved conch shell on waves inside. There is an inscription on the base.

• Culture/period

  • Wanli
  • Ming dynasty

• Date

  • 1573-1620

• Production place

  • Made in: Jingdezhen
  • (Asia,China,Jiangxi (province),Jingdezhen)

• Materials

  • porcelain

• Technique

  • underglazed

• Dimensions

  • Height: 80 millimetres
  • Diameter: 84 millimetres

• Inscriptions

  • • Inscription Type

      reign mark

    • Inscription Position

      on base

    • Inscription Language

      Chinese

    • Inscription Transliteration

      Da Ming Xuande nian zhi

• Curator's comments

  Published PDF date : Ming late 16th centuryRoom 95 label text:

  PDF A670

  
  Blue-and-white stem cup with mythical sea creatures

  
  This blue-and-white stem cup has an apocryphal six-character underglaze blue Xuande reign mark on the base. The style of decoration outside is also in fifteenth century style. Descriptions of mythical sea creatures may be found in Shan Hai Jing [Classic of the Seas and Mountains], a book completed in the Han dynasty by Liu Xiang and his son, and revised and illustrated by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin dynasty. This book records investigations by state officials on topics from astronomy to medicine, science to flora and fauna, medicine to archaeology. It regained popularity in the fifteenth century. A relationship between the sea-animal motifs and Tibetan Buddhism seems to have existed. It is probable that this stem cup was used at a Buddhist ceremony. Xuande period porcelains of this type are usually decorated with all nine sea creatures together, although the order of the animals varies and the spaces in between can be filled with crested waves, rocky cliffs and clouds. Later copies such as this have a selection of the creatures.

  
  Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration
  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省, 景德鎮
  Ming dynasty, Wanli period, AD 1573–1620

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• Bibliography

  • Medley 1976 p.48, no.A670
  • Pierson 2004 p.68, no.A670

• Location

  On display: G95/dc23/sh2

• Acquisition name

  • On loan from: Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art

• Department

  Asia

• Registration number

  PDF,A.670