The outside of the wine cup is decorated with an underwater view of carp swimming in a lotus pond. Three of the fish make their way along the bottom of the pond but one has turned up to the surface, about to spring forth into the air. The moment this fish breaks through the water’s ceiling, as though captured by a still-action photograph, is shown in the center of the cup. The final transformation of this remarkable fish into a dragon, implied but not shown on the cup, was a well-known metaphor for how a scholar had to pass arduous Imperial Examinations to become an official. The celebration of a candidate’s success—as difficult to achieve as the transformation of a fish into a dragon— or the memory of that accomplishment would have been enhanced by toasting in such a cup as this one.