Rim Fittings and Stand for a Cup
CultureChinese
DateWestern Han dynasty (206 B.C.E-9 C.E.)
MediumGilt bronze with modern simulated cup of Plexiglas
DimensionsOverall: 10 5/8 × 9 3/8 × 9 inches (26.99 × 23.81 × 22.86 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund
Object number2006.12.A-C
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 231
Collections
DescriptionThe cupstand comprises two parts: an oval-shaped collar and a stand with a quatrefoil base. The two parts (A,B) are currently being held together by a plastic addition (C). The oval collar has two massive flanges on each of the long sides, and four flat tabs under the edge of the collar. The stand is cast with a central column with two arms, one slender and the other thicker. The base has two of the vertical quatrefoils in the forms of talons and two horizontal quatrefoils in the shape of leaves. The bronze is cast with overall gilt surface and has green and brown corrosion.Exhibition HistoryRecarving China's Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines', Princeton University Art Museum, March 5-June 26, 2005.
These fittings originally ornamented a lacquered "eared" or "winged" cup like the ones in the adjacent case. Such cups were used for banquets, but the exceptionally large size of these fittings and stand suggest that this example may have possessed a ritual purpose. The claw-shaped feet may represent magical clouds of life-energizing breath termed qi.
Kaikodo America, Inc.;
Purchased from Kaikodo America, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2006.
Orientations, Special issue for the Chinese art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. 39, no. 8 (November/December 2008), 74, Fig. 6 (repro.).
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