This large cup is a striking example of the metalwork produced in the eastern regions of Central Asia and northwestern China under the aegis of the powerful Tibetan empire from the mid-seventh to the mid-ninth century. Chinese sources record the extensive and extravagant production of gold and silver in the region at the time. The specific identification of this material, however, has occurred only recently; it is based on archaeological excavations in China and on the handful of pieces with inscriptions in an early Tibetan script.

Heavily cast with rounded sides, the cup sits on a flared foot. A cloud-shaped thumb-piece, decorated with a leaping lion, caps the ring handle. The exterior, which has a beaded rim, is covered with entwined and tied floral scrolls filled with leafy tendrils. Such scrolls are one of the defining decorative features of silver vessels attributed to the period of Tibetan domination of eastern Central Asia (present-day Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). A mark that can be read as the Tibetan syllable ka is incised into the undecorated interior. Cups of this shape have been used since ancient times by nomads drinking koumiss (fermented mare's milk) and other beverages.