KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The present cup with its additional insects in flight appears to be unique. This cup belongs to a group known as 'chicken' cups that were produced in the early Qing period to emulate those that were produced in the Ming dynasty Chenghua period (1465-1487). Compare Qing examples, a Kangxi-marked pair of cups from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 138; one in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated together with the Chenghua original, Catalogue, section 5, no. A749, pl. XIV; and another from the Ma Foundation, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London 2001, p.159, fig.2, together with Chenghua and Yongzheng versions of the cup.