The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

Gilt-bronze Boot, One of a Pair

907–1125
(907-1125)
Gilt-bronze
43.2 x 29.2 cm (17 x 11 1/2 in.)
Gift of Barbara S. Robinson and Family 2023.97
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The boot's dragon motif suggests that the wearer was a male princely member of the ruling family.

Description

Bronze and silver-gilt boots, modeled after textile and leather boots, were found in Liao tombs. A pair of silver-gilt boots (dated 1018 or earlier) with phoenix motifs and cloud scrolls, were excavated from the tomb of Princess Chen and Xiao Shaoju in Inner Mongolia at Qinglongshan town in Naiman Banner; the couple’s faces were covered with gold masks. This gilt-bronze boot shows rising dragons chasing pearls and may have been made for a male tomb occupant.
  • ?–1996
    (Aaron Gallery, London, England, sold to Barbara S. Robinson)
    1996–2023
    Barbara S. Robinson [d. 2023], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 88, fig. 31
    von Spee, Clarissa. “From the Silk Road to the Imperial Court - Chinese Textiles at the Cleveland Museum of Art,” in Arts of Asia, May-June 2018, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 50–57.
  • The Splendor of Chinese Silk – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 5-August 12, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=Gilt-bronze Boot, One of a Pair|url=false|author=|year=907–1125|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.97