The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Jar (Hu)

Jar (Hu)

202 BCE–9 CE
(206 BCE–8 CE)
earthenware with slip and painted decoration
Overall: 48.2 cm (19 in.)
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1989.15
Location: 241B Arts of Ancient China

Did You Know?

This earthenware wine jar's shape mimics costly bronzes, but the handles have rings that are fixed to the surface of the pot, rendering them useless.

Description

Instead of depicting a real landscape, the artist focused on the rhythmic forces of nature and the movement of energy, using the scrolling form as a symbol common to all changes in nature: cloud vapors, waves, and mountains alike. Here a dragon hovers among sweeping scrolls.
  • ?–1989
    (Donald J. Wineman, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1989–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323. Reproduced: cover, p. 295, 315 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 13 archive.org
    Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (October 1994): 270–347. Reproduced: p. 304; Mentioned: pp. 303–307, 347 www.jstor.org
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 34–35
  • Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).
    Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 25, 1990).
    The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Jar (Hu)|url=false|author=|year=202 BCE–9 CE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.15