Page 61 - Chiense Silver and Gold, 2012, J.J. Lally, New York

27. A R epoussé-Decorated Silver ‘Plum Blossom’ Cup
Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1127–1279)

with steeply rounded sides divided into five lobes by deep grooves on the exterior and with
corresponding raised ribs on the interior converging on a five-petal plum blossom in relief in the
center, also decorated in repoussé on the interior with a blossoming plum branch extending down
from the rim to fill one side opposite a crescent moon beside wispy clouds on the other side, the
interior ground punched with repeating rows of linear open-oval motifs to indicate water, as if
the moon and prunus branch were reflected on the rippling surface of a lake, the design shown
in reverse on the unfinished exterior, the cup raised on a separately made thick disc-shaped foot
soldered onto the base, with a square-edged footring enclosing a recessed base engraved with
four characters: wu shen fu zhi (戊申甫置), the plain band below the lip rim indistinctly stamped
with four indecipherable characters on the exterior, possibly indicating the maker or the location
of manufacture, the surface lightly tarnished and showing traces of earth from burial.

Diameter 3 ⁄8 inches (9.2 cm)
5
The two characters wu shen incised on the base, from the table of characters used to indicate the year in the traditional
sixty-year cyclical dating system, but without inclusion of a reign title or emperor’s name, provide an incomplete cyclical
date. This cup can be securely attributed to the Southern Song dynasty on the basis of stylistic and other criteria, and
therefore the most likely date represented by these two characters is A.D. 1188 or A.D. 1248.
Compare the flower-shaped silver bowl with plum blossom design excavated in 1971 from the tomb of a couple deceased in
A.D. 1195 and A.D. 1199 respectively according to the epitaph in the tomb in Jiangpu county near Nanjing, Jiangsu province,
illustrated in Wenwu, 1973, No. 4, p. 65, fig. 16.
A flower-shaped gilt-silver bowl with matching saucer decorated in repoussé with the same ‘moon and prunus’ motif,
unearthed from a cache at Gu county, Fujian province, now in the collection of Shaowu City Museum, is illustrated in the
catalogue of the special exhibition entitled Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the Southern Song—Antiquities, Taipei,
2010, p. 183, no. III-58.
Another Song dynasty silver bowl of five-petal flower shape with a raised flower in the center and further embellished with
leaves and engraved blossoming branches picked out in gilding, in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated by Nishida and
Tahira (eds.) in the catalogue of an exhibition at the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts entitled Sōgen no bi: denrai no shikki o chūshin
ni (The Colors and Forms of Song and Yuan China – Featuring Lacquerwares, Ceramics and Metalwares), Tokyo, 2004, no. 8.
Compare also the Southern Song Longquan celadon-glazed stoneware bowl incised with a ‘moon and prunus’ motif on the
interior, from the Bernat Collection, illustrated by Wirgin in ‘Sung Ceramic Designs,’ B.M.F.E.A., Bulletin no. 42, Stockholm,
1970, pl. 38b.
南宋 梅月紋花口銀盞 徑 9.2 厘米