Page 564 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

PLATE CXXVIII

Fig. i. Tantalus-cup, bowl-shaped, with a figure inside. Porce-

lain painted in underglaze blue and red enamel. On the bowl

are clumps of lotus and chrysanthemum in blue and red
;

and symbols round the lip of the bowl inside. The figure has a

blue headdress and red coat. The quality of the porcelain

and the colours suggest an early 16th-century date.

Tantalus-cups, like the Western puzzle jug, could only be

used with safety by those who knew their secret. Otherwise

the liquid ran out of some unexpected hole to the discomfiture

of the user. The figure contains a tube shaped like an

inverted U of which one end communicates with a hole at the

foot of the figure inside the cup, and the other end leads

through the bottom of the cup. The cup can thus be filled

Usafely to the level of the top of the bend of the tube. If

filled beyond that point the water runs out on the syphon

principle.

D.3- 5 ".

In the possession of Mr. T. H. Green.

Fig. 2. Bowl with rounded sides and slightly convex bottom.

Porcelain painted in enamel colours. On the outside, a broad

band of tomato red broken by four medallions with figures,
two of which are seen in the illustration ; one holds a picture
scroll with prunus design, and the other is the Beggar Im-
mortal, Li T'ieh-kuai, with his iron crutch and gourd ; the
panels are edged with green, and there is a wave pattern below
and a key-fret on the base. This kind of bowl, with convex
centre (man hsiri), is typical of the Chia Ching period (1522-66).

The mark under the base reads fu kuei chia ch'i, i.e. fine vessel

for the rich and honourable.
D. 475".
In the possession of Mr. George Eumorfopoulos.