The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2024

Dish with Laozi Riding a Water Buffalo (interior); Pavilion and Immortals in Rocky Landscape (exterior)

Dish with Laozi Riding a Water Buffalo (interior); Pavilion and Immortals in Rocky Landscape (exterior)

1723–35
(1644-1911), Yongzheng reign (1723-35)
Diameter: 19.9 cm (7 13/16 in.); Overall: 7.2 cm (2 13/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Daoism traces its origins to Laozi, a sage believed to have lived in the sixth century BC, who was the reputed author of the Daode jing (Classic of the Way), a fundamental text for Daoism. The interior of this dish depicts the elderly Laozi riding a buffalo. He is accompanied by three servants and is greeted by a scholarlike figure.

This dish borrows brush and shading techniques typically employed by artists who paint on paper or silk, a development frequently seen in porcelain decoration around the 1700s.
  • May 28, 1968
    (Sotheby's, London, 28 May 1968, lot no. 123, sold to Severance and Greta Millikin)
    1968–1989
    Severance A. [1895–1985] and Greta [Marguerite Steckerl] Millikin [1903–1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1989–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Sotheby's London. Important Oriental Ceramics; Works of Art. 28 May 1968. p. 47, lot 123
    Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990. Mentioned: cat. no. 63, p. 72
  • 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).
    The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-September 2, 1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Dish with Laozi Riding a Water Buffalo (interior); Pavilion and Immortals in Rocky Landscape (exterior)|url=false|author=|year=1723–35|access-date=13 December 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.315