ground, one side elaborately carved in openwork with a large chi dragon clambering over the rim to form the handle, detailed with a smaller ascending and another descendingchi dragon.

Note: A number of rhinoceros horn cups carved with lobed sides are known, such as the example in the collection of Mr. Michael de Salys Longchamps, illustrated by T. Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 82, no. 35. A related cup without the beaded mouth rim, from the Songzhutang Collection, is also illustrated, op. cit., p. 52, no. 5; and was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 1803. It is suggested that the form and design are reminiscent of silver cups of the mid-Ming period, ibid., p. 52.