LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

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.