1-234-562 - The Museum of East Asian Art/Heritage Images

Zitan cup with the Five Poisons, Qing dynasty, China, 17th-18th century. A small silver lined Zitan cup in the form of a hollowed out half pomegranate. The handle is formed by a salamander biting the cup's rim carved in high relief which continues around the cup and underneath to join a frog, lizard, scorpion and centipede also carved in high relief - these animals are referred to as the Five Poisons. The Five Poisons were a popular decorative motive in the late 16th-early 17th centuries and again in the late 18th century, but this decoration is not common at any other time.