The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Mirror with Xiwangmu

Mirror with Xiwangmu

c. 317–400 CE
(220–589 CE)
bronze
Diameter: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1983.213
Location: not on view

Description

This mirror depicts Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, and her husband, Dongwanggong, King Father of the East, surrounded by mythical figures and animals. One of the earliest and most powerful goddesses in the Daoist pantheon, Xiwangmu can be identified by her U-shaped crown. Legend says that the two deities meet once a year representing the meeting of yin and yang, the two forces that constitute the universe. This mirror shows a band of 14 squares around the center containing a long inscription.
  • ?–1983
    Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull
    December 6, 1983
    (Sotheby's New York, NY. Important Chinese Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull. 6 December 1983 sale, Lot 8, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1983–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Chinese Art Society of America, and Elizabeth Lyons. An Exhibition of Chinese Mirrors. New York: [The Society], 1951.
    Bulling, Anneliese Gutkind. The Decoration of Mirrors of the Han Period: A Chronology. Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1960. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 95–96 and pl. 79
    Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York. Important Chinese Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull. 6 December 1983. Mentioned and Reproduced: Lot 8
    Turner, Evan H. "Year in Review for 1983." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (1984): 38–79. Mentioned: no. 258, p. 79; Reproduced: no. 258, p. 62 www.jstor.org
    Little, Stephen. Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China: the Cleveland Museum of Art, February 10-April 10, 1988. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 12
    Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (October 1994): 270–347. cat. no. 29, p. 347 www.jstor.org
  • Escaping to a Better World: Eccentrics and Immortals in Chinese Art (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-November 6, 2022).
    Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).
    Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-April 10, 1988).
    Mirrors: Art and Symbol. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 3-November 18, 1984).
    The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).
    Exhibition of Chinese Mirrors. Chinese Art Society in America, China House, New York, NY (February 2-April 3, 1951).
  • {{cite web|title=Mirror with Xiwangmu|url=false|author=|year=c. 317–400 CE|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.213