BF25
Further images
Decorated in shades of underglaze blue, the tall rounded sides rising from a short straight foot, painted to the exterior with eight upright petal shaped panels filled with flower scrolls, the interior rim with a band of triangle work, the well painted with a single flower, the exterior with two loop handles both with three small moulded tabs; the low domed cover similarly decorated with eight panels and floral scrolls, surmounted by a conical finial; the base painted with an eight-petal lotus flower, each large petal filled with flower scrolls and a single peony bloom in the centre, with a band of triangle work around the rim, the exterior with two sprigs of prunus, the base glazed.
Literature
There is a comparable chocolate cup with cover and stand in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum number C.779 to B-1910). Like ours, this chocolate cup is dated Kangxi (1662 – 1722), decorated in underglaze blue, and, although it lacks handles, it is of similar form. It is illustrated in: Kerr, Rose and Luisa E. Mengoni Chinese Export Ceramics London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.26-27, pl.23
