Cup and Base thumbnail 1
Cup and Base thumbnail 2
Not on display

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Cup and Base


Although this cup has not been fashioned to the highest standards, it is nevertheless of an unusual form and construction which would have required a good level of skill to achieve. It has been fashioned from at least four separate pieces of nephrite jade and then assembled.

Object details

Categories
Drinking
Gemstones
Hardstone
Object type
Cup and base
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Cup
  • Base
Materials and techniques
Nephrite jade, fashioned, carved and polished using abrasives, with part of the process requiring turning on a bow-driven lathe. The base too would have been fashioned on a bow driven lathe but using conventional woodworking tools.
Nephrite
Green Nephrite
Wood
Brief description
A round 1-handled cup, pale greyish green nephrite jade with a separately carved flower attached to the floor, with inlaid carved dark green nephrite jade leaves and with hardwood base.
Physical description
A round cup fashioned in pale greyish green nephrite jade with a single leaf and flower bud handle and a foot that has been with chased and carved as a multi-petalled flower. Attached to the floor of the cup is a separately fashioned and carved multi-petalled flower, with the gaps and engraved line detail having been filled with a black cement-like material. Around the junction with the foot is a ring of inlaid, carved dark green nephrite jade leaves, with the gaps around the edges and the foot having again been filled with the black cement.
The wooden base, almost certainly a hardwood, is circular and stands on three small, equally spaced feet. The upper surface is concentrically recessed.
Dimensions
  • C.1881 1910 length: 72.0mm (Note: Overall length, including the handles)
  • C.1881 1910 diameter: 60.6 to 61.4mm (Note: External diameter at the rim)
  • C.1881 1910 height: 24.6 to 26.0mm
  • C.1881 1910 depth: 20.2mm (+/- 0.2) (Note: Depth from the rim, at the centre)
  • C.1881 1910 diameter: 30.6 to 31.2mm (Note: Diameter of the foot)
  • C.1881 a 1910 diameter: 47.4 to 49.5mm (Note: Diameter of the wooden base)
  • C.1881 a 1910 height: 14.8 to 15.3mm (Note: Overall height of the base, including the feel)
  • C.1881 a 1910 diameter: 36.65mm (Note: Internal diameter of the recess on the top surface of the wooden base)
Dimensions vary with orientation
Summary
Although this cup has not been fashioned to the highest standards, it is nevertheless of an unusual form and construction which would have required a good level of skill to achieve. It has been fashioned from at least four separate pieces of nephrite jade and then assembled.
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
C.1881&A-1910

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O472246/cup-and-base/
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