A blue and white month cup 'Narcissus', late Qing dynasty with Kangxi mark.
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The cup is thinly potted with deep rounded sides rising to a gently flaring rim. The exterior is finely painted representing the first month with flowering narcissus and a long stem of roses growing beside a scholar's rock, with another narcissus on the reverse. With calligraphy. Height 5 cm. Diameter 6.5 cm.
Crack.
Provenance
From a private Swedish Collector.
Literature
Compare with three complete sets of cups for all twelve months with peotic inscriptions, the first is in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, no. 71; the second in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 21, the third complete set is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art - Chinese Ceramics IV - Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 105B.
More information
It is rare to find cups emblematic of the twelve months painted in underglaze-blue and without the poems inscription. Comparing to similarly painted ‘month cups’ with inscription, the present cup can be identified as representing the first month with clusters of flowering narcissus.