A BLUE AND WHITE OVAL 'EAR' CUP Xuande six-character mark, late Ming Dynasty (2)A BLUE AND WHITE OVAL 'EAR' CUPXuande six-character mark, late Ming Dynasty Of oval form with shallow rounded sides, supported on a slightly raised oval base, set with a pair of ear-shaped handles, the interior decorated with a magpie on a flowering prunus tree beneath a band of connected bead pattern, the exterior decorated with floral sprays, box. 8.8cm (3 1/2in) long. (2).明晚期 青花喜上眉梢耳杯青花「大明宣德年製」楷書款Provenance: Christie's London, 6 June 2000, lot 319來源：倫敦佳士得，2000年6月6日，拍品編號319The present lot is inspired from archaic bronze ear-cups, known in Chinese as yushang (羽觴), that emerged from the Warring States period to the early Western Han dynasty. The present lot is also laden with auspicious symbolism and wordplay. The theme of magpies (xique 喜鵲), a homophone for 'happiness' (xi 喜), on top (shang 上) of prunus branches (meishao 梅梢), which puns with 'eyebrows' (meishao 眉梢) forms a rebus for the blessing, 'May happiness reach up to your eyebrows' (喜上眉梢).public_sentiment_keywords: bronze + you+shang ** Bronze + han ** bronze + xu+shang ** bronze + yu+shang ** Bronze + Han ** bronze ** Bronzeis_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item/51930655.jpgsold_price_type: £