- DIMENSIONS:
- Height 89 mm; Diameter (max) 134 mm
- DESCRIPTION:
- Carved
in an oval, flaring shape to follow the natural shape of the horn, the
cup is of a light brown rhinoceros-horn which is polished and translucent
to show through a warm cinnamon colour. This cup is in the form of a
five-petalled hibiscus flower, which is carved both inside and out with
gently overlapping petals meeting in a whorl, and a central incised
circle within the bowl of the cup. Outside, the stem of the blossom
is carved fully in-the-round and curves down some 9 mm clear of the
base of the flower, where it branches to curve around in two directions
to form a steady ring base on which the cup stands. This stalk branches
upward, with leaves and budding twigs to enclose the base of the large
flower, so that the cup is supported by flowering tendrils in deep relief
and in-the-round carving. On one side a flower faces outward and on
the other a flower is shown from behind, but the placement is neither
symmetrical nor a mirror image. One bud, with two leaves, extends over
the lip of the cup opposite the slight spout. The edges of the horn
(near the root) are not perfect and are now pitted and blackened. There
is a crack down the petal at the spout, which has been carved thinner
than the others.
- COMMENTARY:
- Opinions
have varied about the dating of this cup as there is no supporting evidence
for a classification of such materials, although they are not uncommon.
Different scholars have dated this cup to both the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Stylistically, and from the evidence of the Tradescant catalogue,
the latter period seems more plausible. In China, and elsewhere, rhinoceros-horn
(comprised of agglutinated hair) came to be accredited with supernatural
properties ranging from the magical to the medicinal. Powdered horn
taken with food was used as an aphrodisiac, while carved cups were used
both to detect poisons and to cure cholera. By the late Ming and early
Ch'ing periods (sixteenth-seventeenth century), a tradition of cup carving
had already been established. There are two distinctive types of cups:
one is archaistic, carved in a form reminiscent of a bronze vessel with
a flat base, often with a handle and with relief dragons creeping over
the surface; the other is a more informal style related to ivory and
hardstone carving and is of the type represented by the piece in the
Tradescant collection. The latter often takes the form of either a flower
or an elaborate landscape of Taoist significance.
- Museum Id. No:
- 1656 p. 52: Cup of... rhinoceros hornes
- 1685 B no. 465: Poculum ex Rhinocerotis cornu conflatum
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