The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Silver Vessels

c. late 600s–early 700s

Central Asia or Tibet

(Sogdiana)
Silver with gilded foil
Part 1: 22.9 cm (9 in.); Part 2: 10.2 x 10.2 cm (4 x 4 in.); Part 3: 500 g (1.1 lbs.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1988.67
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

These banquet items may have been made specifically to be buried alongside a deceased person for use in the afterlife.

Description

These vessels attest to the international climate that pervaded the regions of China, Tibet, and Central Asia during the time of the expansionist Tang dynasty (618–907). They are ornamented predominantly with Central Asian elements, including grape vines, beaded borders, heart-shaped motifs, and real and fantastic creatures. Stylistically, the Tibetan objects resemble the metalwork of Sogdian craftspeople, who came from the regions of modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and settled across Asia. These artists are known to have specialized in the technique of offsetting the silver repoussé design with gilded foil, using heat and pressure to adhere the foil to the silver surface of the vessel.
  • ?–1988
    (David Tremayne, Ltd., London, United Kingdom, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1988–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “The Year in Review for 1988.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (February 1989): 30–75. Mentioned: cat. no. 231–233, p. 75; Reproduced: cat. no. 231–233, p. 51 www.jstor.org
    Czuma, Stan. "Museum Acquisitions and Notes." Bulletin of the Asia Institute vol. 5 (1991), 190. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 190
    “Recent Acquisitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art II: Departments of Asian Art: Supplement.” The Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1059 (June 1991): 417–424. Reproduced: p. 419, fig. VIII www.jstor.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw J. "Some Tibetan and Tibet-Related Acquisitions of the Cleveland Museum of Art." Oriental Art, winter 1992/3, vol. 38, no. 4. Mentioned: p. 231; Reproduced: p. 232.
    Czuma, Stan. "Tibetan Silver Vessels." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 4 (April 1993): 131–135. Reproduced: p. 134; Mentioned: pp. 131–135 www.jstor.org
    Carter, Martha L. "Three Silver Vessels from Tibet's Earliest Historical Era: A Preliminary Study." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 3 (1998) 22-47. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 22-31, figs. 1-9c www.jstor.org
    Heller, Amy. Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, 600-2000 A.D. Milano, Italy; Woodbridge, England: Jaca Book; Antique Collectors’ Club, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 8 and 11, pls. 3, 4, 13, and 14.
    Christman, Bruce. "Three Gilded Tibetan Vessels." In Gilded Metals: History, Technology and Conservation. Terry Drayman-Weisser, ed. London: Archetype Publications Ltd. in association with the American Institute of Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2000. Reproduced: fig. 10.1, p. 169; fig. 10.3, p. 172
    Heller, Amy. "The Silver Jug of the Lhasa Jokhang: Some observations on silver objects and costumes from the Tibetan Empire (7th-9th century)." Asianart.com, published July 18, 2002. Reproduced: fig. 33 and fig. 34 (cup only) www.asianart.com
    "Silk Road Art and Archaeology." Silk Road art and archaeology: journal of the Institute of Silk Road Studies, Kamakura, vol. 9 (2003). Reproduced: fig. 17, p. 224
    Huo, Wei. “A Study of Ancient Tibetan Gold and Silver Ware.” Chinese Archaeology 12, no. 1 (November 2012): 165–74. doi:10.1515/char-2012-0020.
    Heller, Amy. “Tibetan Inscriptions on Ancient silver and gold Vessels and Artefacts.” Journal of the International Association for Bon Research, vol 1. (2013). Mentioned: footnote 38, p. 274; pp. 276–8. Reproduced: p. 277.
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 216
    Kosmin, Paul. "Banqueting on the Move." In Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings. Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., 310-341. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2018. Mentioned: p. 338, p. 384, cat. no. 62
    Debreczeny, Karl. Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism. New York, NY: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019. Reproduced: fig. 3.5, pp. 8-9 and p. 76
    Pritzker, David Thomas and Wang Xudong 王旭东, editors. Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road: Masterpieces of the Tubo Period (7th-9th Century) = 丝绸之路上的文化交流 : 吐蕃时期艺术珍品. Beijing: 中国藏学出版社 [China Tibetology Publishing House], 2020. Reproduced: p. 15, p. 31 (vase only)
    Heller, Amy. “Silver Jug: Ceremonial Banquet Vessels in Silver and Gold,” Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023, https://rubinmuseum.org/projecthimalayanart/essays/silver-jug/. rubinmuseum.org
    Heller, Amy. “Silver Jug: Ceremonial Banquet Vessels in Silver and Gold.” Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023. Reproduced: fig. 5 and fig. 6 (cup only) rubinmuseum.org
  • All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).
    Selections from the Tibetan Collection (Galleries 103–104). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1993).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989).
  • {{cite web|title=Silver Vessels|url=false|author=|year=c. late 600s–early 700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.67