Wine cup with ring handle, birds, animals, and grape vines

Cup. Silver. Surface: lustrous gray patina; traces of earthy adhesions. Decoration: engraved; gold leaf applied to areas in the design.

Historical period(s)
Early Tang dynasty, late 7th century
Medium
Cast and hammered silver with chased and ring-punched decoration and mercury gilding
Dimensions
H x W: 6.4 x 7.8 cm (2 1/2 x 3 1/16 in)
Geography
China, Shaanxi province, Probably Xi’an
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1930.51
On View Location
Freer Gallery 16: Center of the World: China and the Silk Road
Classification(s)
Metalwork, Vessel
Type

Cup

Keywords
bird, China, grape, rabbit, Tang dynasty (618 - 907)
Provenance

1930
Yamanaka and Company, Boston 1930 [1]

From 1930
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka and Company, Boston in 1930 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file, undated folder sheet. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yamanaka and Co. 1917-1965

Description

Cup. Silver. Surface: lustrous gray patina; traces of earthy adhesions. Decoration: engraved; gold leaf applied to areas in the design.

Published References
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 105, vol. 1: p. 176.
  • Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes. London, United Kingdom, October 2019. p. 1.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 24.
  • Alicia Walker. Patterns of Flight: Middle Byzantine Adoptions of the Chinese Feng Huang Bird. vol. 38 Washington and Ann Arbor. p.203, fig.11.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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