Title

Zitan cup with the Five Poisons, Qing dynasty, China, 17th-18th century. Artist: Unknown

Caption

Zitan cup with the Five Poisons, Qing dynasty, China, 17th-18th century. A small silver lined Zitan cup in the form of a hollowed out half pomegranate. The handle is formed by a salamander biting the cup's rim carved in high relief which continues around the cup and underneath to join a frog, lizard, scorpion and centipede also carved in high relief - these animals are referred to as the Five Poisons. The Five Poisons were a popular decorative motive in the late 16th-early 17th centuries and again in the late 18th century, but this decoration is not common at any other time.
Bath (England), The Museum of East Asian Art

Date

1600

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images

Reference

HRM19B73_462

Model release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

18,0Mb (380,5Kb) / 9,4in x 7,4in / 2824 x 2227 (300dpi)

Keywords

animal wood fruit country China Chinese cup color colour amphibian location century pomegranate artefact dynasty artifact qing dynasty 17th century salamander 18th century Eighteenth Century seventeenth century Museum of East Asian Art zitan object wood Unknown wood object