Small cup of the Ming Dynasty. China, 1573-1620.

Small cup of the Ming Dynasty. China, 1573-1620.
Porcelain.
Provenance: Piece acquired at auction in the USA with a lot of 50-60 archaeological pieces. Private collection, Connecticut, USA.
Parallels: The British Museum has similar examples in its permanent collection.
Slight damage to the mouth.
Base with trade label of John Sparks (England, 1854-1914), one of the oldest and most respected dealers in Chinese works of art, based in Manchester in 1888. In the mid-1920s, Sparks settled in Shanghai, which allowed him to source objects directly from China.
Measurements: 5 cm (height) x 9 cm (diameter).

Small cup made of white porcelain. It presents an openwork design in the form of a trellis with five large circular medallions, among which there are floral forms of marked subtlety and distinction. A fretwork crowns the design at the bottom. The base is not enameled. Like the examples housed in the British Museum, this piece may have been made in the Chinese province of Jiangxi, specifically in the town of Jingdezhen, considered the capital of Chinese porcelain. Jingdezhen was the seat for centuries of the ceramic kilns of the Chinese emperors.