DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO GENGZI YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1840 or 1900

Aixian laoren ('old man who enjoys leisure') appears to be a pottery artist active during the Wanli and Jiajing periods, but works that bear his signature were also found on later works during the Qing dynasty. Compare the very similar Yixing peach stone-form cup, of smaller size, (10.1 cm. long), also with glazed interior and with an identical inscription and an Aixian laoren signature, in the Percival David Collection, illustrated in Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, rev. ed., 1999, no. A84, and col. pl. p. 4. The entry notes that the inscription on the rim is in three different scripts, and provides a translation of the inscription. The cup is dated probably Kangxi period. The entry also notes that the same inscription appears on a late Ming ceramic object and a jade object depicted in the Gu yu tu pu.