Spouted cup

Peach-shaped cup with spout and low, spreading foot. Translucent, greenish-white jade (nephrite) with light and dark brown markings. Large areas of opaque cream white decomposition; much earth incrustation. Incised, wide band of interlocked double spiral pattern, one taotie mask. Rim and foot rim broken, surface damage.

Jade vessels are rare in antiquity, but a few are found in the Warring States and Han inventory. The semi-translucent walls show the relief spirals and high gloss characteristic of the Jincun style. The cup displays a monster-mask beneath its spout.

Historical period(s)
Warring States period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 475-221 BCE
Medium
Jade (nephrite)
Dimensions
H x W x D: 5.1 x 9.8 x 11.3 cm (2 x 3 7/8 x 4 7/16 in)
Geography
China, Probably Jincun, Henan province
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1930.31
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Jade, Vessel
Type

Cup

Keywords
China, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)
Provenance

To 1930
C. T. Loo & Company, New York to 1930 [1]

From 1930
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company, New York in 1930 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file, undated folder sheet note. See also Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Description

Peach-shaped cup with spout and low, spreading foot. Translucent, greenish-white jade (nephrite) with light and dark brown markings. Large areas of opaque cream white decomposition; much earth incrustation. Incised, wide band of interlocked double spiral pattern, one taotie mask. Rim and foot rim broken, surface damage.

Jade vessels are rare in antiquity, but a few are found in the Warring States and Han inventory. The semi-translucent walls show the relief spirals and high gloss characteristic of the Jincun style. The cup displays a monster-mask beneath its spout.

Published References
  • William Charles White. Tombs of Old Lo-yang: A Record of the Construction of a Group of Royal Tombs at Chin-ts'un, Honan, Probably Dating 550 B.C., 1st ed. Shanghai. cat. 307, pl. 123.
  • Sueji Umehara. Shina kogyoku zuroku [Selected Specimens of Chinese Archaic Jade]. Kyoto, 1955. pl. 60.
  • Sueji Umehara. Rakuyo kinson kobo shuei [Objects from the Ancient Tombs at Chin Ts'un, Lo-yang]. Kyoto. pl. 80, fig. 3.
  • Osvald Siren. Kinas Konst Under Tre Artusenden. 2 vols., Stockholm, 1942-1943. vol. 1: pl. 57 a.
  • Alfred Salmony. Carved Jade of Ancient China. Berkeley, 1938. pl. 57, no. 1.
  • S. Howard Hansford. Chinese Carved Jades. The Arts of the East London. pl. 38b.
  • S. Howard Hansford. Chinese Jade Carving. London. p. 114, pl. 19b.
  • Thomas Lawton. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington, 1982-1983. cat. 103, p. 156.
  • William Charles White. Discoveries Which Surpass Anything Yet Known of Archaic Chinese Jade: Lo-yang Types of Many Colors. vol. 184, no.4951 London, March 10, 1934. p. 371.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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