Teacup

The cup is complete. It is circular in shape. The wall is slightly flared at the top, and the rim is plain. The lower third of the wall is tapered towards the bottom. It rests on a foot in line with the wall. The base is free of glaze. The underside of the base is recessed and flat. The handle is vertical and ear-shaped, with an oval ring on its upper half. The upper part of the handle rests on the wall; at its lower junction, the handle is folded down and has a pointed end. There are small linear marks on the inner base; the decoration is painted on the glaze in polychrome blue, red, green, pink, black and peach. It is a Chinese figurative scene (Boy and the butterfly or Boy and the bug). It is visible under the inner rim, on the inner base, on the outer wall and on the handle. The decoration under the inner rim is a double horizontal fillet painted red and adorned with four lobed tongues with pearl. The inner base features a small terrace of superimposed arched lines, surmounted by beaded stems, all painted red. The decoration extends over the entire outer wall: it consists of small terraces, spread over several registers, all made of superimposed triangular lines pointing downwards and painted red; three support figures, four others, stylized black trees, rocks and shrubs, and two support a red-painted fence. The central figure is a man standing three-quarters to the left, wearing a blue tunic, black shoes and a headdress painted black and red. In front of him are a terrace with two black bushes and a tree with branches adorned with red berries. In front of the man stands a child seen in profile to the right, dressed in a pink jacket and green pants; he is wearing black shoes and is stretching his arms upwards towards a butterfly in flight, with blue wings and a red body. The child is standing in front of a leaning tree decorated with red fruit. In the background are rocks covered with spiky undergrowth. On the opposite wall stands a woman, also seen from three-quarters to the left, dressed in a red and pink tunic and partly hidden by a long green sleeveless blouse; the woman holds a long leafy stem painted black. The terrace behind the woman supports a fence made of two angled sections with a central post; it is topped by two stylized black shrubs; a similar terrace and shrub are also behind the man. The handle is adorned with red painted decoration: the center of the vertical part of the handle is adorned with a fillet, and the ends are adorned with a fillet, while the top of the handle is adorned with a vegetal motif followed by a row of aligned dashes and dots. The inner background is slightly faded.