The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 8, 2026

A red-brown earthenware sculpture depicts a tall, vertical figure with a minimalist face. Narrow slits form the eyes and mouth, with a small protruding nose. Large rectangular panels flare from the head like wings, situated above smaller triangular sections. A horizontal ridge separates the upper figure from a long cylindrical base featuring a circular hole. This abstract form combines human-like features with flat, geometric, shield-like shapes.

Haniwa in the Form of a Shield

c. 500

Japan, Kofun period

(300–710 CE)
Earthenware with applied, cut, and incised designs and red slip
Overall: 120 x 48.7 x 18 cm (47 1/4 x 19 3/16 x 7 1/16 in.)
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1999.170
Location: Not on view

Description

Haniwa (clay cylinders) topped with the form of a shield, or with a shield and quiver of arrows, appear on some tomb mounds called kofun (old mounds). There are also warriors holding a shield, their heads peeping out over the tops, or diagonally across their bodies. There are even some haniwa with a warrior’s helmet sitting at the top of the cylinder above the shield. This unusual object has a shield and quiver on the front, and the face of a warrior wearing a helmet on the reverse.
  • ?–1999
    (Leighton R. Longhi Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1999-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Mrs. Paul Wurzburger Donates Major Calder Mobile to Cleveland Museum of Art, Korean Painting, Japanese Ceramic, Italian Drawing and other Works Acquired” September 8, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Cunningham, Michael. "A Japanese Totem." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 40, no. 7 (September 2000): 6–7. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 6–7 archive.org
    Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi, 2019. Reproduced: p. 341, fig. 348
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 7-July 8, 2019).
    Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).
  • {{cite web|title=Haniwa in the Form of a Shield|url=false|author=|year=c. 500|access-date=08 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.170