This cup is cut from dark green (bian) jade, the stone the Chinese court valued above every other because it could be worked but never rushed. Jade does not bend; the carver removes everything that is not the object.
The dragon cut is the point. Jade carving rewards a sure hand and punishes a second thought, so the cup reads as a single decision rather than a sequence of them.
Jade carried the moral vocabulary of the Chinese court, the stone against which character itself was measured.
A cup like this was made to outlast its owner by centuries, and it has. The dark green (bian) jade still carries the chill it had when it left the Imperial dynasty bench.
Object details
| Name | Jasper dragon ear cup with holder (碧玉龙耳带托杯) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00103496 |
| Technique | Dark green (bian) jade (碧玉) |
| Period | Imperial dynasty |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.