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White jade cup resembling a poppy

A cup of thin creamy-white translucent jade is made up of wide petals creating the rim of the cup, curving inward to a smaller base. A floral design sprouts horizontally from one end of the cup into a smooth handle that hooks to one side in a small round sphere.

Gallery Text

This elegant cup is carved from jade, thinned to the point of translucence. The artist took inspiration from a poppy, the plant from which opium is derived. Overlapping petals create the basin, and a stem with leaves forms the curving handle. Opium latex, a milky fluid produced by the plant, was dried, then dissolved in wine, milk, or water and drunk from a cup. Opium had been used in India since ancient times, for purposes ranging from medicinal to religious to recreational.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2009.202.64
Title
Opium Cup
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 1675
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India
Culture
Mughal
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/190835

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Jade
Dimensions
2 x 7.9 cm (13/16 x 3 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch (by 1999 - 2008,) by descent; to his estate (2008-2009,) gift; to Harvard Art Museum, 2009.

Notes:
Object was part of temporary loan to Museum in 1999.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch
Accession Year
2009
Object Number
2009.202.64
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
This elegant cup is carved from jade, thinned to the point of translucence. The artist took inspiration from a poppy, the plant from which opium is derived. Overlapping petals create the basin, and a stem with leaves forms the curving handle. Opium latex, a milky fluid produced by the plant, was dried, then dissolved in wine, milk, or water and drunk from a cup. Opium had been used in India since ancient times, for purposes ranging from medicinal to religious to recreational.

Exhibition History

  • A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 06/08/2000 - 09/03/2000
  • Objects for a Kunstkammer: Early European Collecting, 1550-1700, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 12/10/2005 - 11/19/2006
  • Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008
  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 06/21/2016
  • Art and Stories from Mughal India, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 07/31/2016 - 10/24/2016

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu