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Nautilus cup
4th century
Shell
L. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
Excavated from the tomb of Wang Xingzhi (d. 340) and his wife (d. 348), Xiangshan, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 1965
Nanjing City Museum
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Nautilus shell is known in China as "parrot shell," and the cup made from it as "parrot cup." This is the only early example of a nautilus cup found more or less intact archaeologically (the reconstruction was possible with the survival of the metal rims), and it predates the earliest known literary references to such objects. The shell would have come from Indonesia, providing further evidence for maritime trade between East Asia and island Southeast Asia at this time. The parrot cup was, of course, a luxury item, and it is not surprising that it was found in the tomb of Wang Xingzhi and his wife, Song Hezhi, both members of prominent families of the Eastern Jin dynasty. Wang Xingzhi was a cousin of Wang Xizhi (ca. 303–ca. 361), the most famous calligrapher in Chinese history.
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