A SMALL GRAYISH JADE OVAL CUP

Details

A SMALL GRAYISH JADE OVAL CUP
SONG/YUAN DYNASTY

The deep, rounded sides carved on the exterior in shallow relief with a petal frieze pendent from a narrow rope-twist border at the rim, each petal incised with three vertical striations, the whole raised on a tall oval foot encircled by a bowstring band and with a raised border at the foot rim, the softly polished, semi-translucent stone of mottled grayish color--2 3/16in. (5.5cm.) long

Provenance

Desmond Gure Collection, no. 201

Exhibited

London, Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, June 16-July 23, 1960, no. 288
Stockholm, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Chinese Jades, May-June 1963

Lot Essay

A small jade ewer carved from stone of similar color and with an almost identical petal frieze carved around the lower body was included in the O.C.S. exhibition, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1975, Catalogue no. 311, where it is dated 13th-15th century. Compare, also, the small vase, apparently also carved from similar stone and also of oval section, with a very similar pedestal foot encircled by a median rib and a rib at the footrim, no. 313