The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Stoneware, shiny, squat, red-brown teapot with a gold outlined landscape featuring a building, tree, and undulating, rock-strewn land. Flecks of grey sprout from the tree branches. An even, cylindrical handle curves from the side of the teapot, and a straight, cylindrical spout extends out from the other side. A flat lid with a knob rests on top, patterned with two rows of rectangular swirls on the edge and swirls around the knob.

Teapot with Landscape and Imperial Poem

1762–95

Chen Hanwen

(Chinese, active c. 1720s–90s)
China, Jiangsu province, Yixing, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
Stoneware, with gold pigment, Yixing ware
Diameter: 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in.); Overall: 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.); with spout: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1980.27
Location: Not on view

Description

This teapot with a polished surface shows an imperial poem in gold on one side and a landscape on the other. The poem in archaic seal script was composed by the Qianlong emperor on his third southern inspection tour in 1762, when he traveled to southern China to solidify his rule. The base bears a stamped seal of its maker. Yixing potters produced teapots primarily for Ming dynasty literati-officials who valued simplicity and restraint, until the early Qing emperors introduced them at court.
  • ?–1980
    (Ms. Charlotte Horstmann, Ltd., Kowloon, Hong Kong, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1980–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (1981): 163–219. Mentioned: p. 219, no. 301 www.jstor.org
    von Spee, Clarissa. “The Power of Writing: A new display in the Chinese galleries focuses on inscriptions.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 5 (September/October 2018): 12–13. Reproduced: p. 12; Mentioned: p. 12, 13 archive.org
    von Spee, Clarissa. "China's Southern Paradise: Treasures From the Lower Yangzi Delta At the Cleveland Museum of Art." Arts of Asia (Winter 2023): 98–104. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 104, fig. 9
    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: pp. 372–373, no. 205
  • The Dancing Brush: Ming Dynasty Calligraphers and Eccentrics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 8, 2024-March 2, 2025).
    Power and Possession: Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 13, 2018-February 3, 2019).
    Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=Teapot with Landscape and Imperial Poem|url=false|author=Chen Hanwen|year=1762–95|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.27