pair, cup
Cups
1700s, Qing Dynasty
China
Porcelain
Gift of Jan and Frederick R. Mayer
2003.34.1-2
This pair of porcelain cups was recovered from the Griffin shipwreck off the coast of the Philippines. The Griffin, an English East Indian Company ship, made several round trips between China and Europe before it sank in 1761. More than 7,500 pieces of porcelain were found; most, like the cups shown here, are the blue-and-white ware made in Jingdezhen kilns. These pieces were decorated with a bird holding a fish in its beak. The Chinese associate the heron with water themes, but given that these porcelains were for European customers, this bird could possibly be a pelican.
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