Jade tripod cup (zun)

A jade cup of cylindrical form and with a flat base, supported on three small cabriole feet and with a single ring handle to one side, which has a flange-like extension that sweeps upwards.  The cup is very well hollowed, resulting in relatively thin, translucent walls that are entirely devoid of ornament.  The stone is of pale green colour with some areas of russet marking, creating an almost marbled effect.

• Early vessels in jade are rare; Rawson observes that ‘..extraordinarily few vessels were made at any period before the Ming’.1   The reason for this might have been the extravagance involved in carving these pieces: a vessel such as the present example would have had to be cut from a relatively large block of material, and hollowing it out would necessarily result in wastage.  Rawson also points out that the shapes of jade vessels made during the Han dynasty often have parallels in lacquer, which certainly applies to the present vessel. A similarly shaped vessel with ‘rice-grain’ patterns to the sides is in the Winthrop Collection at Harvard University. 2 

1. Rawson, J. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, The British Museum Press, 1995, p. 386
2. Rawson, op.cit. fig. 2, p. 386