Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1765-1780 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,
Subjects:heraldry
Dimensions:Height: 26.50 centimetres Width: 22 centimetres (including handles) Depth: 15 centimetres
Description:
Pair of covered ‘grisaille’-and-gold painted cups with an English coat of arms. The deep cups each are supported on a bell-shaped foot, their handles made of twisted strands of clay with applied leaf terminals and their covers with applied berry knobs. They are decorated in ‘grisaille’ and gold with a coat of arms on either side, divided into quarters, each section with a fleur-de-lis, and with floral garlands and a chain border around the rim, the foot and the cover.
IMG
![图片[1]-cup BM-1887-1218.7-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Qin dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00358919_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-cup BM-1887-1218.7-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Qin dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00299688_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The coat of arms belongs to Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), a celebrated naturalist and son of a wealthy merchant who became president of the prestigious Royal Society in 1778 and a Baronet in 1781 (Howard, 1974, p. 360). Banks was also interested in Chinese botany and wildlife; some of the Chinese watercolours of plants which he commissioned are in the Natural History Museum, London. The armorial design on both cups was copied from an engraved bookplate such as the one illustrated, also in the British Museum, which is inscribed ‘Joseph Banks Esq.r’ (BM Franks 1371). These cups were probably commissioned after Banks came into his parental fortune in 1764 and before he married in 1779. The shape of such two-handled cups, which are sometimes called ‘grace cups’ or ‘loving cups’ (see BM Franks. 624A), derives from English silverware, and a similar pair of 17th-century English silver cups is in the British Museum (BM 1973.0103.1 and 2). Their original function was for drinking a final toast after grace was said at the end of a meal, for which they were passed around the table. These porcelain examples, however, may have been decorative rather than utilitarian.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,
Subjects:heraldry
Dimensions:Height: 26.50 centimetres Width: 22 centimetres (including handles) Depth: 15 centimetres
Description:
Pair of covered ‘grisaille’-and-gold painted cups with an English coat of arms. The deep cups each are supported on a bell-shaped foot, their handles made of twisted strands of clay with applied leaf terminals and their covers with applied berry knobs. They are decorated in ‘grisaille’ and gold with a coat of arms on either side, divided into quarters, each section with a fleur-de-lis, and with floral garlands and a chain border around the rim, the foot and the cover.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The coat of arms belongs to Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), a celebrated naturalist and son of a wealthy merchant who became president of the prestigious Royal Society in 1778 and a Baronet in 1781 (Howard, 1974, p. 360). Banks was also interested in Chinese botany and wildlife; some of the Chinese watercolours of plants which he commissioned are in the Natural History Museum, London. The armorial design on both cups was copied from an engraved bookplate such as the one illustrated, also in the British Museum, which is inscribed ‘Joseph Banks Esq.r’ (BM Franks 1371). These cups were probably commissioned after Banks came into his parental fortune in 1764 and before he married in 1779. The shape of such two-handled cups, which are sometimes called ‘grace cups’ or ‘loving cups’ (see BM Franks. 624A), derives from English silverware, and a similar pair of 17th-century English silver cups is in the British Museum (BM 1973.0103.1 and 2). Their original function was for drinking a final toast after grace was said at the end of a meal, for which they were passed around the table. These porcelain examples, however, may have been decorative rather than utilitarian.
© Copyright
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, please keep the original link for reprinting.
THE END
![[Qing Dynasty] British female painter—Elizabeth Keith, using woodblock prints to record China from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China—1915-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-191x300.png)
