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Subject:Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Tom Mon, Oct 10, 2011 IP: 70.108.53.114

Hi - I would appreciate any opinions regarding when and where the porcelain cup in the accompanying photos might have been made, and for what occasion. Thanks.







Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: bill h Wed, Oct 12, 2011

In the main, the cup was occasioned by a wish of its maker to reap a profit in the marketplace, export or domestic, where Chinese-taste porcelain was appreciated.

The scene isn't necessarily historical but probably derives from one of the stories in a 14th century book called 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'. The work is not entirely documentable as based in fact. See the below link for further details.

Fortunately, your cup is documentable as a 19th century product of the reign of Tongzhi (1862-74) or his successor the Guangxu emperor (1875-1908). The cup shown below is in the related 'myths & legends with calligraphy' motif. It is a marriage of a Tongzhi-marked lid with a Daoguang-marked base. Both pieces probably belong to the Tongzhi period.

BTW,the figure visible on the lid is a representation of Fa Mulan, whose legendary exploits inspired the Disney movie named for her. As often is the case in Hollywood, the film veered from the book and didn't bother to let the audience know she didn't emerge from the book alive.

Best regards,

Bill H.




URL Title :ThreeKingdoms


Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Tom Thu, Oct 13, 2011

Thanks for an interesting response.

Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: rat Fri, Oct 14, 2011

there's a guy named Arno Jacobs in Europe who is interested in these sort of cups and figuring out who the people represented are. try looking him up on the gotheborg forum

Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Arno Jacobs Sun, Oct 16, 2011

Dear all,

Thank you Bill, you are right. There is a glosarry link on the main page of the Gotheborg discussion site, where you can find the 40 peerless heroes of "Wu Shuang Pu". I have to tell you that the cup of Bill is a cup with some of these heroes, but the other cup isn't Wushuangpu.

Kind regards,
Arno

Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Bill H Mon, Oct 17, 2011

What I meant when saying 'related' was that all of those porcelainized 'peerless ones' and the scenes on Tom's cup derive from similar classical sources, including the frequently referenced 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'. 'The Great Fortune', a 2002 catalog of the European Weishaupt Collection, has more than 40 authoritative pages devoted to inscribed Chinese porcelains that celebrate such myths and legends calligraphically, including identification of them and first-class translations of the inscriptions. Much superior to any of the graffiti we're apt to find written on the walls of, er...what was the name of that burg in Sweden you mentioned? Can't seem to locate it on my GPS. :)

Thank you,

Bill H.

Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Arno Jacobs Sun, Jan 19, 2014

www.gotheborg.com

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Subject:Re: Chinese cup with historical scene
Posted By: Arno Jacobs Thu, Jul 01, 2021

Since now there is a book in English language with the names, biographies and poems of these Wu Shuang Pu heroes and Heroines, titled; The Beauty of Chinese Porcelain, Symbolism and WuShuangpu by Arno Jacobs


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