A RARE SMALL WHITE JADE OCTAGONAL LIBATION CUP

LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE SMALL WHITE JADE OCTAGONAL LIBATION CUP
LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Of faceted octagonal form, finely carved with a central band of archaistic scrolls between a band of pendent lappets below and key fret above, interrupted by the handles carved in openwork as two chilong clambering towards the rim where one peers over the edge towards the other, the softly polished semi-translucent stone of soft white tone with brown inclusions
3¼ in. (8.3 cm.) across handles

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Lot Essay

The configuration of the present cup, with two chilong forming the handles, is well-known, and appears at least as early as the Yuan dynasty, as evidenced by a green jade cup with chilong-form handles in the collection of the Museum of History, Hangzhou, illustrated in A Collection of Cultural Relics in Hangzhou, Beijing, 2001, p. 129. A smaller (7 cm.) white jade cup, although of more rounded form, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 9, Beijing, 1986, p. 172, no. 298, where it is dated to the Ming dynasty. This form also appears in bronze, as seen in a 17th century cup with dragon handles, illustrated by M. Goedhuis, Chinese and Japanese Bronzes, AD 1100-1900, London, 1989, no. 26.

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