The piece 器
The chicken-heart cup is a Ming classic — deep-bellied, small-footed, named for the pointed heart shape hidden in its base. Ours holds a quiet scene: a cat, whiskers and fur rendered stroke by stroke, watching you from a stand of wind-bent bamboo. Tip the cup and the painting keeps going — loose bamboo leaves drift down the white interior, as if shaken free by the same wind. The mood is the old scholars’ motto: serenity carries far (宁静致远).
The making 工
Pure single-pigment qinghua: nothing but cobalt on white, painted freehand in Jingdezhen — fur shaded in graded washes, leaf veins in one-breath lines — then glazed and fired at high temperature.
Specifications
- Origin — Jingdezhen, China
- Material — high-fired porcelain
- Decoration — hand-painted underglaze cobalt, cat and bamboo
- Form — Ming chicken-heart cup, deep belly, small foot
- Glaze — clear and bright
- Care — dishwasher safe, though it prefers hands
Every cat is painted individually — each one watches a little differently. That is the point.
