The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Footed Platter with Design of Mythical Beasts amid Grapevines

700s

China, Tang dynasty

(618–907)
silver with gilt, incised, and chased decoration
Diameter: 4.8 x 30.5 cm (1 7/8 x 12 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1972.39
Location: 239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork

Did You Know?

The footed tray, a foreign shape, is decorated with fantastic creatures frolicking among grapevines, a motif borrowed from Roman art.

Description

Precious Sassanian and Central Asian metalwork had been imported to China as early as the 4th and 5th centuries as a result of wars and prosperous trade along the Silk Road. With the influx of foreign metalworkers to cosmopolitan Tang China, the techniques of sheet metalworking were introduced to the Chinese. This silver vessel demonstrates the effects of such east-west exchanges along the Silk Road. Its decoration with intricate gilt, incised and chased designs against a ring-punched ground is of a particularly high standard.
  • ?–1972
    David David-Weill [1871–1952] and Flora Raphaël David-Weill [1878–1970], Paris, France, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale
    February 29, 1972
    (Sotheby's London, England, An auction of Chinese Bronzes and Objects of Art from the D. David-Weill Collection. February 29, 1972 sale. Lot no. 167. Sold to Spink & Son, Ltd.)
    February 29–May 3, 1972
    (Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    May 3, 1972–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Gyllensvärd, Bo. "T'ang, Gold and Silver," Bulletin, Östasiatiska samlingarna (Stockholm, Sweden) no. 29 (1957). figs. 58 J & K, 781, 80q
    Sotheby's, London. The D. David-Weill Collection; early Chinese bronzes; inlaid metalwork, gilt bronzes and silver; jades; sculpture and ceramics. 29 February 1972 sale. Mentioned and Reproduced: Lot no. 167
    Ma, John K. T. "Saleroom News," Arts of Asia 2/3 (May-June 1972), p. 55.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 333 archive.org
    Kelley, Clarence W.. Chinese Gold & Silver in American Collections: Tang Dynasty, A.D. 618-907. Dayton, OH: Dayton Art Institute, 1984.
    Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 345, fig. 36 www.jstor.org
    "London." Apollo 95, no. 124 (June 1972), pp. 526–527. Reproduced: fig. 3
    Gao, Emily Yang. "Meal on the Dish: Rethinking Various Types of Plates of Tang China and Their Influence on Chinese Foodways." In A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China, edited by Nicole T. C. Chiang, 88-112. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Palace Museum, 2025. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 88–92, fig. 4.1
  • A Moveable Feast: Food Cultures in China. Hong Kong Palace Museum Limited, Hong Kong, Hong Kong (organizer) (March 19-June 18, 2025).
    All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).
    The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).
    Chinese, Gold and Silver from the T'ang Dynasty from American Collections. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH (November 3, 1984-January 6, 1984); Cooper Hewitt, New York, NY (February 5-April 21, 1985)
    Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=Footed Platter with Design of Mythical Beasts amid Grapevines|url=false|author=|year=700s|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.39