"And the style of the cup is believed to have evolved from 'yu (feathers) shang (cup)', a unique wine cup with two expansive handles like that of a bird's wings," she says. "For example, one such cup was mentioned in Lantingji Xu (Preface to the Collection of Poems of the Orchid Pavilion), a piece of prose by the fourth-century calligrapher Wang Xizhi."

Another highlight at the exhibition is a bronze rabbit head, formally one of the 12 zodiac animal statues, which served as heads of a water-clock fountain at Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace. It was looted during the Second Opium War (1856-60) and transported abroad, before being returned in 2013.