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Sep 4, 2012

Jul 20, 2020

Jar with Lion-Head Handles

青花雙獅頭罐

1300s

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Yuan dynasty

(1271-1368)

Porcelain with underglaze painted decoration

Diameter of mouth: 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.); Overall: 39.4 x 37.5 cm (15 1/2 x 14 3/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1962.154

Location

238 Chinese Ceramics

Did you know?

The characters for "palace" and "south" are scratched into the white glaze on the vessel's shoulder, suggesting that it was once kept in a specific location in a palace.

Description

Appreciated for its strong profile, brilliant blue color, and firm delineation of the decorative patterns, this jar is a classic example of Yuan dynasty blue-andwhite ware. This type of ware was produced no later than 1330s for both domestic use (the court and common people alike) and overseas trade. This example testifies to the transmission of artistic ideas and techniques between China and the rest of the great Mongol Empire as a result of trade. The cobalt that was used as blue colorant for underglaze decoration was imported from Iran, likely from Kashan. The band of cloud-collar motifs with phoenixes set against floral grounds, as shown here, is an artistic vocabulary that can also be found in Iranian decorative arts of the Ilkhanid period (1256-1353).

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Inscriptions

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南

Inscription Translation

South

Inscription Remark

This character is scratched into the white glaze on one of the vessel's shoulders.

Inscription

宮

Inscription Translation

Palace

Inscription Remark

This character is scratched into the white glaze on one of the vessel's shoulders.

Provenance

?–1962

(J.T. Tai and Co., Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1962–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. “Janus in Limbo.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 50, no. 1, 1963, pp. 3–6. Reproduced: fig. 4 www.jstor.org

“Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums.” Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, vol. 17, 1963, pp. 43–65. Reproduced: p. 46, fig. 10 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 260 archive.org

Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968. Reproduced: pl. 156

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 260 archive.org

Medley, Margaret. Yüan Porcelain and Stoneware. London: Faber, 1974. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 58, fig. 45b

Medley, Margaret. The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics. Oxford: Phaidon,1976. Reproduced: p. 183, fig 134

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 344 archive.org

Neils, Jenifer and Sherman E. Lee. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. cat. no. 119

Gowing, Lawrence, ed. A History of Art. London: Macmillan, 1983. Reproduced: p. 317

Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 351, fig. 48 www.jstor.org

Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press [distributor], 2002. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat no. 193, p. 285; fig. 17, p. 21

Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 05, September/October 2013 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 15 archive.org

"Reopening of the Asian Galleries at The Cleveland Museum of Art: An Interview with David Franklin." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, vol. 44, no. 8 (November/December 2013): pp. 60-63 Reproduced: p. 63

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 100

Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 221, fig. 6.7; Mentioned: P. 221, 226, 228

Gaskin, Steven P. "The David Vases: Considering Serpentine Waves on Yuan Blue-and-White." Orientations 46, no. 4 (May 2015): 81-89. Reproduced: p. 86, figs. 9, 9a.

Exhibition history

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-November 24, 1968).

The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-August 22, 1982).

Printing in Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 17, 1985).

The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 28, 2002-February 16, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 13-July 27, 2003).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

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{{cite web|title=Jar with Lion-Head Handles|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.154|year=1300s|access-date=23 March 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Jar with Lion-Head Handles

Jar with Lion-Head Handles

青花雙獅頭罐

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Yuan dynasty

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