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Lot Essay
This pair of cups is beautifully painted on the exterior with overglaze enamels in the famille verte palette. The style of painting strongly resembles two other, slightly smaller, pairs of conical cups, also from the Kangxi period, and also with apocryphal Chenghua marks, in the Percival David Foundation. These David Foundation cups are published in Illustrated Catalogue of Qing enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 1973, nos. PDF 875 and 876, and PDF 892 and 893, illustrated pl. IX. The Falk cups are, however, unusual in having doucai decoration on the interior, while most other examples simply have overglaze enamels.
The figure on the donkey depicted on the Falk cups may be the poet Lu Kai, who lived in the Song State during the Southern Dynasties period (AD 420-479). While in Jiangnan, he is traditionally believed to have sent a spray of prunus hundreds of miles to the historian Fan Ye in Chang'an. This has become a symbol of sincere friendship. The Falk cups may well have been commissioned with the intention of presenting them to a close friend.
The figure on the donkey depicted on the Falk cups may be the poet Lu Kai, who lived in the Song State during the Southern Dynasties period (AD 420-479). While in Jiangnan, he is traditionally believed to have sent a spray of prunus hundreds of miles to the historian Fan Ye in Chang'an. This has become a symbol of sincere friendship. The Falk cups may well have been commissioned with the intention of presenting them to a close friend.