SONG-YUAN DYNASTY, 12TH-13TH CENTURY

A silver cup of peach form and Song-dynasty date, excavated in 1981 at Liyang county, Jiangsu province, is illustrated by Han Wei and Christian Deydier, Ancient Chinese Gold, Paris, 2001, p. 184, pl. 457, as well as in a sketch of six silver cups of different shapes from the excavation, p. 183, pl. 455 (middle). One of a set of six silver peach-shaped cups recovered from a hoard in Hunan province, dated to the Ming dynasty, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, gongyi meishu bian, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, p. 91, pl. 175. As with the present cup, the handle and leaves of these cups have been soldered to the body, and the leaves have chased or engraved veins. Peach-shaped cups were also made in other materials during the Song and Ming periods, including in Longquan celadon, such as the cup or washer, illustrated in Longquan qingci yanjiu, Beijing, 1989, pl. 42:4.