The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Bowl with Decoration of the "Three Friends"

1426–35

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Ming dynasty

(1368-1644), Xuande mark and reign (1426-1435)
porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Diameter: 30.2 cm (11 7/8 in.); Overall: 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1953.631
Location: 238 Chinese Ceramics

Description

Pine, bamboo, and plum blossom are known as the “Three Friends” of winter as metaphors of the scholar-gentleman’s ideal of integrity, endurance, loftiness, and purity.
  • Lee, Sherman E. “Early Ming Blue and White Porcelains.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 2 (February 1955): 27–31. Mentioned: p. 30; Reproduced: p. 29 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. 864 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 266 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 266 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 353 archive.org
    Lion-Goldschmidt, Daisy. Ming Porcelain. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 89, no. 53
    Williams, Marjorie. Chinese Painting--an Escape from the "Dusty" World. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 33, p. 48
  • Bones of Jade, Soul of Ice: The Flowering Plum in Chinese Art. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (April 17-June 30, 1985); St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (September 6-November 3, 1985).
    The Arts of China from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH (February 27-April 10, 1983).
    Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-April 5, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=Bowl with Decoration of the "Three Friends"|url=false|author=|year=1426–35|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.631