The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Panel from Model Cooking Stove: Raven Flanked by Snake-Entwined Tortoises

100–1 BCE

China, from a tomb in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Western Han dynasty

(206 BCE–8 CE)
earthenware with impressed relief decoration
Overall: 12.4 x 18.2 x 1.7 cm (4 7/8 x 7 3/16 x 11/16 in.)
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1925.139
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Han dynasty tombs were often furnished with grave goods to provide the deceased with items for the afterlife.

Description

Han dynasty tombs were often furnished with grave goods to provide the deceased with items for the afterlife. Four earthenware panels were made in molds and then joined together to make a miniature model of a stove, which was placed in a burial chamber. The four sides show the animals of the cardinal directions.

Two snake-entwined turtles designate the north, and here flank an archway that simulates the opening for fueling the stove. Above the arch perches a raven, which is identified with the sun, perhaps depicted here to denote the heat issuing from the false opening.
  • ?-1925
    (C.T. Loo 盧芹齋 [1880-1957], Paris and New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1925-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Whiting, Frederic Allen. “The Bequests of Mary Warden Harkness: A Tribute and an Accounting.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 15, no. 2, 1928, pp. 43–50. Mentioned: p. 50 www.jstor.org
    Janse, Olov and C.T. Loo. Briques et objets céramiques funéraires de l'époque des Han. Paris: Les Éditions d'art et d'histoire, 1936. Reproduced: Plate XXVI
    Trubner, Henry. Chinese Ceramics from the Prehistoric Period Through Ch'ien Lung; A Loan Exhibition from Collections in America and Japan. March 14 to April 27, 1952. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1952. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 55, fig. 42:1
    Wilson, J. Keith. “Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 77, no. 8, 1990, pp. 286–323. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 301, cat. no. 25, fig. 19 www.jstor.org
  • From Caves to Tombs: Chinese Pictorial Rubbings from Stone Reliefs (從石窟到墓祠—石刻拓片). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-November 14, 2021).
    Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 25, 1990).
    Chinese Ceramics. Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA (March 14-April 27, 1952).
    Mary Warden and Charles W. Harkness Memorial Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 1-29, 1928).
  • {{cite web|title=Panel from Model Cooking Stove: Raven Flanked by Snake-Entwined Tortoises|url=false|author=|year=100–1 BCE|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.139