The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Round Box with Bird and Peonies Design

Round Box with Bird and Peonies Design

c. 1300
(1127–1279) to early Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
carved lacquer
Overall: 21 x 40.6 cm (8 1/4 x 16 in.); Lid: 8.5 x 40.6 cm (3 3/8 x 16 in.); Bottom: 12.5 x 40.6 cm (4 15/16 x 16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2011.34
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Lacquer ware was always a valuable product in Chinese material culture and was often used as precious gifts in diplomatic, religious, and economic exchanges with other countries—Japan, for example, where this box was long preserved and acquired.

Description

The carved lacquer box and lobed silver container nearby both feature pairs of birds and flowers on their covers. There is a striking similarity in decoration, shape, and aesthetic appeal. Both boxes suggest that successful designs and shapes circulated among craftsmen, workshops, and beyond regional borders.
  • ?–2011
    (Takashi Yanagi at Yanagi Fine Art Shop, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2011–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Garner, Harry Mason. Chinese Lacquer. London: Faber, 1979.
    Tokugawa Bijutsukan 徳川美術館, and Nezu Bijutsukan 根津美術館. Chōshitsu: urushi no rerīfu [彫漆 : うるしのレリーフ = Carved lacquer]. [Nagoya-shi]: Tokugawa Bijutsukan, 1984.
    Watt, James C. Y., and Barbara Brennan Ford. East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.
    Karamono shikki: Chūgoku, Chōsen, Ryūkyū [唐物漆器 : 中国・朝鮮・琉球 = Karamono: Imported Lacquerwork-Chinese, Korean, and Ryukyuan (Okinawa)]. Nagoya-shi: Tokugawa Bijutsukan, 1997.
    Sō Gen no bi: denrai no shikki to chūshin ni [宋元の美 : 伝来の漆器を中心に = Colors and forms of Song and Yuan China - featuring lacquerwares, ceramics and metalwares]. Tōkyō: Nezu Bijutsukan, 2004.
    Negrotti, Rosanna. "Acquisition of the Year." Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors, December 2011, Vol. 174, Issue 593, pp. 62-73. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 64, fig. 4
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 10, 108–109
    “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2010-2011.” Archives of Asian Art 62 (2012): 105–153. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 114, fig. 10 www.jstor.org
    Franklin, David. “Recent Acquisitions (2005—11) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Burlington Magazine 154, no. 1312 (2012): 525–532. Reproduced: fig. II, pp. 525 www.jstor.org
    Springer, Samantha. "Re-examining the Cleveland Carved Lacquer Box: The Conservator's Perspective." Orientations; Volume 44 Number 8 (November/December 2013), 76–78. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 76–78, Fig. 1-4
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 241). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 5, 2013-January 9, 2015).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 100). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 29, 2011-September 20, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Round Box with Bird and Peonies Design|url=false|author=|year=c. 1300|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.34