The cups with sides rounded below and rising to the rim, in thickly moulded, semi-opaque, whitish glass, with a pair of flat ring side handles in the form of dragons, and on either face a shou (long life) character flanked by a pair of descending dragons. Both with rim and foot chipped.

These are rare, but not unique, examples of the early export of Chinese glass to Europe; two apparently identical cups in the former Medici collections in Florence, described as ‘jade’, and another (similarly identified).Blown glass vessels were produced in China by the Tang period (618–906), when examples of Near Eastern manufacture had been received and the techniques learnt. Such wares remained in production under the Qing dynasty, when some items were favoured by the court (RCIN 11696). Moulded glass objects have been found in graves of the archaic period.

Text adapted from Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume III.