The octagonal cup is moulded with the Eight Daoist Immortals, P. J. Donelly points out that although often referred to as libation cups, these are in fact wine cups.[i]

Blanc de Chine wine cup, (courtesy of Chris Sheffield)

The decoration was applied in the workshop of Daniel and Ignaz Preissler where they worked as court artists in the service the Counts Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky in Kunštát (Kronstadt) in eastern Bohemia. The typical Preissler workshop ornamental strapwork in schwarzlot around the interior and exterior is highlighted with gilding. The decoration of the Immortals follows the original Chinese moulding with their faces accentuated in iron-red.

For a discussion of the Preissler workshop see our recent catalogue Decorators of Ceramics and Glass, Independent, Itinerant and the Hausmaler, pp. 45 to 75.

Available on our website:

https://www.rare-ceramics.com/catalogues/ 

Condition:
Minute chip to one corner. The four shallow feet of the cup have been polished down to fit the gilt-copper mounts.

Provenance:
Röbbig, Munich
Private Collection, Germany

References:

Donnelly 1969
P. J. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine: The Porcelain of Tehua in Fukien (Faber & Faber, London, 1969)

E & H Manners 2024
E & H Manners, Exhibition: Decorators of Ceramics and Glass, Independent, Itinerant and the Hausmaler, (June 2024)

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[i] Donnelly 1969, pp. 87 & 88, pl. 26 B

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