Two teacups and saucers on footring, spreading sides. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, black and gold with a naked couple partly covered by a blanket on a mattress. A kneeling maidservant at the head of the bed, a fan, a candlestick and a container with pots and a brush. On the rim a scrolling pattern in gold on a blue ground. Inside on the base of the cup a mating rooster and hen. On the reverse of the saucer a prunus, chrysanthemum and camellia. Erotic and pornographic scenes were a popular genre in Japanese pictorial art (shunga), but they are rare on Japanese porcelain, occurring even less than on Chinese porcelain. The standard iconography has been used here: a couple half-covered by a blanket being watched by a maidservant or one of the courtesan's apprentices. The motif of the mating rooster and hen emphasise the theme. An identical cup is in the Kasteel Loosdrecht Collection (Inv. 8218/9, unpublished). Sets of cups and saucers with erotic representations were considered highly exotic and desirable in the West. There are no comparable pieces in the literature. The Van Diepen Collection has four identical cups and saucers.