Rare Chinese Porcelain Cup made for the Armenian Jewish Market

This unusual, fine tea cup of almost translucent porcelain, was commissioned in China for the Jewish market, probably for Jewish merchants in Armenia.

Similar examples of Chinese export porcelain with similar dates made for the Armenian market are illustrated in Hassiotis (2010, p. 222)

The cup sits on a low ring foot decorated with a gold band to match the gold rim.

The interior of the cup is decorated in gold with a staff crossed with a caduceus (a staff entwined with two snakes) over a date of 1842.

The exterior is decorated with four fields – a gold seven-branch menorah with red flames on each side, and then again in gold, a standing angel (angels are messengers in Judaism) and a figure of Aaron, dressed as a high priest, who holds an incense burner from which smoke is emitted, before a golden altar on which stands a large vase-like censor which also emits a plume of smoke. This same scene is repeated on the opposite side of the cup.

The use of gold for the menorah is appropriate – in Exodus, God gives Moses clear instructions on how to fashion a menorah – it must have seven branches and be made of gold. The altar inside the tabernacle of the temple too was to be of gold and was to be used for the burning of incense.

Aaron wears a high priest’s breastplate (hoshen). He also wears a high, twin-peaked cap, which is not typical of a high priests cap but 16th century European paintings and drawings of Aaron took to showing Aaron in this manner.

Aaron was a high priest and the elder brother of Moses. Exodus states that Aaron wore a breastplate over his heart when entering the temple’s innermost sanctuary adorned with twelve precious stones, each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is this which the hoshen has been modelled. The snake-wrapped staff in the cup’s interior is a reference to Aaron’s staff which was turned into snakes at the command of Moses.

Fine porcelain was commissioned from China for export to Armenian communities and it seems that similarly fine examples of porcelain were made for adjacenet Jewish of which this is an extremely rare example.

The cup is in excellent condition without chips, cracks or repairs.