Raft Cup
Details
- Author / creator
- Zhu Bishan (Chinese, c. 1300–after 1362)
- Object type
- Metalwork
- Date or period
- 1300s–1400s
- Dimensions summary
- Overall: 16 cm
- Maker or workshop
- Zhu Bishan
- Period / style
- Yuan period
About this object
The figure watching the stars is believed to be the messenger Zhang Qian (died 114 BCE). Legend says he lost his way in the Milky Way, where he met the Weaving Maid who gave him a stone from her loom. Zhang, in fact, holds a slab inscribed loom stone. The vessel is dated, inscribed, and has a seal of the silversmith Zhu Bishan, from Zhejiang province, who ran a workshop in the Lake Tai area near Suzhou. Zhu is one of the few Chinese silversmiths known by name, producing silverware so desirable that his name was used like a trademark by his competitors and followers. Made of pure silver, and shaped like a hollow log, the cup was assembled from several silver pieces that were then soldered together.
Materials and technique
Hammered silver soldered together, with chased decoration
Signature and marks
signed 碧山 and dated 乙酉年 (1345); The inscription in seal script style (zhuanshu) reads: Raft cup, made in the yiyou year of Zhizheng [1345], Whoso wishes to reach the Milky Way is obstructed by the sky; Once there was a man, restless and valiant, who penetrated into the silver sea. Alas! Why did he not seek for some embroidery from the celestial loom? He only brought back in his arms a slab of stone used to prop up the loom.
