On New Year’s Eve the emperor poured wine into a small gold cup and drank to a kingdom with no cracks, and the cup was built to say so.
The ‘Gold Ombilical Cup’ was made to a strict specification: gold body, inlaid with pearls and precious stones, its feet shaped as elephants to signal stability. Each year the Qianlong workshop struck a fresh one for the midnight rite, a piece of state theatre performed for an audience of one.
Few survive, and the best of them stay in Beijing. It is a court object with a single job, to turn a wish for an unbroken realm into something the ruler could hold.
Object details
| Name | Gold Cup of Perpetual Unity (金瓯永固杯) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | — |
| Technique | Gold inlaid with jewels |
| Period | Qing dynasty, Qianlong reign |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | 北京故宫博物院 |
Image © The Palace Museum, Beijing. See the original in the museum collection.