Wine Cup with Children at Play

This delicate wine cup, only two inches high, exhibits free, spontaneous drawing as well as perfect compositional balance over its small surface area. The motifs were outlined with cobalt blue; the piece was then glazed and fired in the normal way for making the blue-and-white ware. After firing, the outline painting was completed with colored enamels over the glaze. The piece was fired the second time. The pictorial decoration is refined and complicated; the porcelain body is of exceptionally high quality and is thin, translucent, and light in weight.

This type of a cup is called Chicken Cup (Chenghua). It is a bowl-shaped vessel made of Chinese porcelain painted in the doucai technique. Chicken cups were created during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), during the Chenghua Emperor's reign (1465–1487) in China, and originally functioned as a vessel from which to drink wine. It demonstrates one of the high points of technological accomplishment in Chinese porcelain production.

We present this wine cup thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Have a fruitful week everyone. ; )

P.S. If you would like to know more about traditional Chinese painting, click here!