stem cup BM-1938-0712.1

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1426-1435
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:unicorn mythical figure/creature fish kirin
Dimensions:Diameter: 15.60 centimetres Height: 13 centimetres

Description:
Porcelain stem cup with reserved and underglaze blue decoration. This large stem cup has a bowl with rounded sides and an everted rim. Its stem tapers gently towards the base. Inside it carries a six-character underglaze blue reign mark in a double ring. Outside are nine cavorting mythical sea creatures reserved in white on a dark blue wave ground with further waves around the stem and with blue dots for eyes. The stem is hollow and glazed inside. Here the mythical sea creatures are: a carp with wings in place of a dorsal fin and a bow tied round its head, a unicorn, a fish dragon with wings and open jaws, a ‘qilin’, a walrus-type creature with wings, a ‘tianlu’ [heavenly deer], a flying horse and two fantastical composite creatures with paws and wings, one rather pig-like, the other more resembling a lion.
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Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Descriptions of these mythical sea creatures may be found in Shan Hai Jing [Classic of the Seas and Mountains], a book completed in the Han dynasty by Liu Xiang and his son, and revised and illustrated by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin dynasty. This book records investigations by state officials on topics from astronomy to medicine, science to flora and fauna, medicine to archaeology. It regained popularity in the fifteenth century. The National Palace Museum has in its collections fourteen stem cups decorated with both the sea-animal motifs and nine Tibetan/Sanskrit characters spelling out a mantra. A relationship between the sea-animal motifs and Tibetan Buddhism seems therefore to have existed. It is probable that this stem cup was used at a Buddhist ceremony. Xuande period porcelains of this type are usually decorated with all nine sea creatures together, although the order of the animals varies and the spaces in between can be filled with crested waves, rocky cliffs and clouds. Earlier porcelains decorated with sea creatures and Tibetan/Sanskrit characters, dating to the Yongle period, were discovered at Zhushan.