Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art

This rare jade flower cup is delicately carved in the shape of a dried lotus leaf. The
crinkled edges curling up on itself in almost triangular shape, the naturalistically
rendered veins visible on the leaf. The stalk of the lotus cleverly incorporated to
form the foot of the cup.
Compare a similar jade brush washer, also in the shape of a lotus leaf, dated Song/
Yuan dynasty in the collection of the National Palace Museum. Another white jade
cup was unearthed from the Shih Sheng-tzu tomb in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province,
dating to the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). A very similar cup can be seen
in the Ming dynasty painting ‘Sixteen Views on Reclusion’ by Chen Hongshou
(1599-1652) of the Northern Song poet and scholar Su Tung-po (1036-1101). In
this painting, Su Tung-po is sitting on a wooden chair holding a lotus flower cup,
while looking resolute in the face of adversity.