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Lot of 2 Chinese blue-on-white porcelain lotus-flower cups with rising stamens in centers painted as

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:450.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 900.00 USD
Lot of 2 Chinese blue-on-white porcelain lotus-flower cups with rising stamens in centers painted as
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This item SOLD at 2013 Oct 30 @ 21:30UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Lot of 2 Chinese blue-on-white porcelain lotus-flower cups with rising stamens in centers painted as tiny men, rare and unusual, intact, ex-Hatcher. 419 grams total, each about 2-1/2" tall and 4-1/4" in diameter. These are by far the most unusual porcelains we have seen, and we fail to understand their purpose, but their modus operandi appears to be that when each six-petalled cup is filled with liquid, a small piece inside a central dome rises with eight upright sticks through holes in the dome, showing painted faces and other features on each stick. The inside of each cup is painted a vivid blue, and the outside shows Chinese text (large on one, tiny on the other) in several columns, with three tiny feet on the base of each. Both cups are almost completely intact, just the central dome of one with chipped-off piece floating freely inside. Pedigreed to the Hatcher Collection, with original Christie's (Amsterdam) lot-stickers (June1984). Recovered from: Geldermalsen ("Nanking Cargo"), sunk in 1752 in the South China Sea