The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Brushwasher in Form of Lingzhi Fungus

1736–95

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty

(1644-1911), Qianlong mark and reign (1736-95)
porcelain with celadon glaze
Overall: 0.8 x 11.1 cm (5/16 x 4 3/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection 1964.225
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Lingzhi is a woody mushroom often used in traditional Chinese medicine and associated with immortality.

Description

In China, access to political power was granted to those who passed the civil service examinations, a system that offered official service only at a high level of education. Chinese literati-officials, whose daily routine involved administrative work in an office, enjoyed precious objects on their writing desks that offered distraction and demonstrated good taste. By the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, these utensils of the literati studio became also collectibles and were treasured as artworks.

Desk objects included paper weights, seals and seal paste boxes, brush rests like this porcelain one, wrist rests, brush holders, water droppers, ink cakes, miniature mountains, and albums, all ranging in material from jade, gilt bronze, lacquer, and wood to porcelain.
  • Mrs. and Mr. Maurice Solvay [1898–1960], Paris, France
    ?–1963
    J. T. Tai, New York, NY, given to Severance and Greta Millikin
    1963–1964
    Severance A. [1895–1985] and Greta [Marguerite Steckerl] Millikin [1903–1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1964–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990. Mentioned: p. 78, no. 100
  • China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023).
    The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Brushwasher in Form of Lingzhi Fungus|url=false|author=|year=1736–95|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.225