The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Basin

1127–1279

China, Zhejiang province, Hangzhou, Southern Song dynasty

(1127-1279)
porcelaneous stoneware, Guan ware
Diameter: 24.2 cm (9 1/2 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1957.48
Location: 238 Chinese Ceramics

Did You Know?

The base shows that the basin was fired on 17 small spurs arranged in two concentric circles.

Description

Guan ware was the official ware fired at the Southern Song imperial kilns in Hangzhou. Multiple glazing is characteristic of this ware. The total thickness of the glaze can be greater than the clay body that supports it. Here, the thick gray-green glaze is webbed with a wide network of dark brown crackles as well as finer webs of light golden-brown and colorless crackles. The crackle pattern was developed after firing, due to the different rates of expansion and contraction of the body and the glaze. It was consciously exploited to achieve an aesthetic effect and was stained at different stages during the cooling process.
  • Men-Chu Wang, Seller's no. 36
    ?–1957
    (Frank Caro [1904–1980], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1957–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 849 archive.org
    Milliken, William M. "Early Byzantine Silver." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 45, no. 3 (1958): 35–94. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 78 www.jstor.org
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    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 257 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. 257 archive.org
    Gakuji Hasebe 長谷部楽爾, ed. Tōji [陶磁= Ceramics]. Vol. 5 in Chūgoku bijutsu [中國美術 = Chinese art in western collections]. Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1972. Mentioned and Reproduced: Vol. 5, color pl. 43
    Hasebe, Gakuji 長谷部楽爾, et al. Sō [宋 = Sung dynasty]. Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1977. Reproduced: fig. 78
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 339 archive.org
    Kleinhenz, Henry J. "Porcelains for Imperial Use: The Sung Dynasty." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 4 (1978): 135–150h. Reproduced: fig. 17, a www.jstor.org
    Neils, Jenifer. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 110
    Hasebe, Gakuji 長谷部楽爾. Sōji: shinpin to yobareta yakimono [宋磁: 神品とよばれたやきもの = Song ceramics]. Japan: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 96, cat. no. 59
    Chung, Anita. "A Connoisseur's Eye, A Scholar's Mind: The Legacy of Sherman Lee." Orientations vol. 40, no. 5 (2009). Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32, fig. 6
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    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. 102
    “A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8–33. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 31 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 33
    Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. Edited by Clarissa Von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 185, no. 68
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    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).
    Song Porcelain. Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (March 6-April 13, 1999); Museum of Oriental Ceramics Osaka, Japan (April 25-June 13, 1999); Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi (June 20-August 15, 1999).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
  • {{cite web|title=Basin|url=false|author=|year=1127–1279|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1957.48