Tibetan Tea Cup

Blue & White Porcelain Cup and Silver-Alloy Cup Holder

approximate height when assembled: 17cm, weight of the silver components: 160g

This silver-alloy cup stand and cover was made in Tibet probably in the nineteenth century, although the style pre-dates that. The porcelain cup was made in China for the Tibetan market. Such cups and covers were used in Tibet by senior monks and aristocratic families.

The base is of stemmed form with the cylindrical foot being chased with three cartouches filled with flowers and surrounded by a plum blossom trellis design. The foot leads to a wide saucer in the style of an open lotus with the scalloped rim emulating lotus petals. The rim is repoussed and chased with Himalayan Buddhistic symbols against a scrolled leafy background.

The bowl cover is tiered with the upper third tier featuring open-work panels. The lower tier is engraved with floral and foliage motifs, as is the rounded second tier. The top tier is decorated with a ribbed medallion and surmounted by a coral-coloured glass bead, which, with the mounts in which it sits, shows traced of gilding.

The porcelain cup is translucent and particularly finely potted. It is decorated in blue enamel with an Indian-lotus-type scrolling patterns favoured by the Tibetan market. It is marked in blue enamel to the base in fine characters with the maker’s mark of

若深珍藏

or ‘Ruo Shen Zhen Chang’ (literally, ‘Treasure of Ruo Shen’). This mark is relatively rare and is associated with a potter in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. The rim of the cup has been strengthened with a thin metal band. The cup is free of chips but does have one hairline crack. The silverwork is free of dents or losses.

Reynolds, V. et al, From the Sacred Realm: Treasures of Tibetan Art from the Newark Museum, Prestel, 1999.

UK art market