A rare silver 'chilong and lingzhi' handled cup, Song dynasty | 宋 銀鏨螭龍紋靈芝耳盃

The present cup is unusual in its zhadou-form body and its inclusion of mythical animals in the otherwise plant-inspired motif. A number of small cast-silver cups that have floriform designs has been excavated from Song and Liao dynasty sites, such as two Song dynasty footed lotus-form cups discovered in Pingqiao Village, Liyang County, Jiangsu province, and now in the collection of the Zhenjiang Museum, illustrated in Zhenjiang chutu jinyinqi [Gold and Silver Wares Unearthed in Zhenjiang], Beijing, 2012, pls 39-40; along with three further silver floriform cups from the same site and period, ibid. pls 36-38; and a related silver cup excavated in a Liao tomb at You'ai Village, Baiyinhan Township, Baling Right Banner and now in the collection of the Inner Mongolia Museum, Hohhot, and exhibited in Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (907 – 1125), Asia Society, New York, 2006, cat. no. 92b. See a related pair of Song dynasty silver footed floriform cups sold in these rooms, 31st March - 1st April 2005, lot 170.