The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Alms Bowl

Alms Bowl

c. 900s
Overall: 12.8 x 23.8 cm (5 1/16 x 9 3/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Alms bowls used by Buddhist monks to receive donations have traditionally been made of iron or wood. This bowl, made of gilt bronze and decorated with incised designs of birds and flowers in roundels as well as butterflies, is instead a luxury item likely meant for a Buddhist altar, where it would have contained offerings for a Buddhist deity.
  • ?-1949
    (Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1949-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Milliken, William M. “Important Acquisitions of Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 38, no. 9, 1951, pp. 211–217. Mentioned: p. 212 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 904 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19 archive.org
    Feddersen, Martin. Japanese Decorative Art, A Handbook for Collectors and Connoisseurs. London: Faber and Faber, 1962. Reproduced: fig. 76
    Rosenfield, John M. Japanese Arts of the Heian Period, 794-1185. [New York]: Asia Society, 1967. Reproduced: pp. 92 and 123, cat. no. 41
    Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 23
    Vilbar, Sinéad. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160–197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 180–181, fig. 7.16
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - January-July 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 9-July 10, 2017).
    Japanese Arts of the Heian Period. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 5, 1967-February 19, 1968).
    Japanese Arts of the Heian Period: 794-1185. Asia House Gallery, New York City, NY (October 5-December 17, 1967) and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968).
    Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 9-December 17, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Alms Bowl|url=false|author=|year=c. 900s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.156