The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Recumbent Bull

Recumbent Bull

700s
(618-907)
gilt bronze
Overall: 3.5 x 7 cm (1 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1985.74
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This solid-cast bronze bull has carefully defined skin folds on its neck.

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 was administrative work in an office, enjoyed precious objects on their writing table that offered distraction and demonstrated good taste, as well as the pleasure of holding and handling them. By the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, these utensils of the literati studio also became collectibles and were treasured as artworks.

Made of solid gilt-bronze, this paperweight in the form of a recumbent bull was meant to be placed on a scholar’s desk. Oxen were precious livestock as they could pull carts and plows. Often depicted in landscape paintings and in pictures of tilling the spring soil, the bull’s nature was traditionally likened to the willingness of a loyal civil servant who bears the burden of hard labor without complaint.
  • Dr. Zheng Dekun 鄭德坤 [1907–2001], Cambridge, England
    ?–1985
    (J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Von Spee, Clarissa. “Chinese Miniatures: Art in new dimensions.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 3, 2022: 16. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 16.
    Von Spee, Clarissa. “Chinese Miniatures: Art in new dimensions.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 62, no. 3 (September 2022): 16. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 16.
    Watson, William. Eskenazi: Twenty Five Years: Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Gilt Bronzes, Inlaid Bronzes, Silver, Jades, Ceramics: 12 June-12 July 1985. London: Eskenazi Galleries, 1985. cat. no. 14
    Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26–71. Mentioned: p. 71, no. 212; Reproduced: p. 40, no. 212 www.jstor.org
    Eskenazi, Giuseppe, and Hajni Elias. A Dealer's Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi. London, England: Scala, 2012. Reproduced: p. 198, pl. 56
  • China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023).
    Eskenazi: Twenty-five Years; Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Gilt Bronzes, Inlaid Bronzes, Silver, Jades, Ceramics (June 12-July 12, 1985).
  • {{cite web|title=Recumbent Bull|url=false|author=|year=700s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.74