Chinese wine sets Ⅶ:Gold cup with characters

Jiaqing Period, Qing Dynasty
Height: 12.5cm
Diameter of mouth: 8cm

Straight mouth, one-legged dragon ear on both sides, with an eastern pearl on top of the dragon's head, three legs shaped like elephant faces with a curled trunk. The cup is covered with kingfisher feathers as a background, against which treasure flowers and intertwining lotus leaves are engraved. The pistils are inlaid with 11 eastern pearls, 9 rubies, 12 sapphires and 4 tourmalines. The edge of the cup is ringed with fret patterns, with seal-script characters "Jin Ou Yong Gu" carved in relief on one side, and the date mark of "Qianlong Nian Zhi" (made in Qianlong Period) on the other.

The phrase "jin ou" means "country or regime", and "jin ou yong gu" means "an eternally stable regime". The wine cup was for the exclusive use of the Qing-Dynasty emperor at the ceremony marking the beginning of writing on New Year's Day every year.