The cup with spreading sides, rounded below and everted towards the rim, and thick-rimmed base. Above and below, borders of gilt ruyi-heads. Inside, a medallion, with pine, prunus, bamboo and Buddha’s hand citron, with a surrounding ruyi-head border repeated below the rim. Incised round the sides, a poem of 22 lines, filled in red, also appearing on the lid. The inscription as follows:

梅花色不妖佛手香且潔
松實味芳腴三品殊清絕
烹以折腳鐺沃之承筐雪
火候辨魚蟹鼎煙迭生滅
越甌潑仙乳氈廬適禪悅
五蘊淨太半可悟不可說
馥馥兜羅遞活活雲漿澈
偓佺遺可餐林逋賞時別
懶擧趙州案頗笑玉川譎
寒宵聼行漏古月看懸玦
軟飽趁幾餘敲吟興無竭
乾隆丙寅小春御題

Composed by the Emperor in the tenth lunar month of the
bingyin year [equivalent to 1746 in the Western calendar] during
the reign of the Qianlong emperor.
Two seals, reading:
乾
Qian
隆
Long

On the base, the six-character reign-mark in seal script, incised and filled in red. The cover, an inverted, smaller, shallow dish with foot, inscribed and decorated to match; the inside left plain.

The cup is inscribed with the poem Sanqing cha written in kaishu (standard script). The poem extols the virtues of what was reputedly the Qianlong emperor’s favourite herbal drink, known as Sanqing cha (‘Tea of Three Purities’). This is a herbal infusion made from melted snow, plum blossom, Buddha’s hand citron and pine nuts. On a chosen evening, during the first month of the Chinese year, the Qianlong emperor would invite his ministers to sit with him in the Chonghua Hall and compose poetry whilst drinking this infusion. The poem is found in the Belles-lettres treasury of the Siku quanshu (‘Complete Library of the Four Treasuries’), in part one, chapter 36 of the subcategory of imperial poems. The Manchu imperial family were followers of the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. This is reflected in the content of the poem, although much of the terminology used relates to the Chan (Zen) sect of Buddhism.

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