The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 1, 2023

Wine Vessel (Hu)

early 400s BC

China, Warring States period

(475-221 BC)

Bronze with gold inlay

Diameter: 24.1 cm (9 1/2 in.); Diameter of mouth: 10.1 cm (4 in.); Overall: 27.6 cm (10 7/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1929.984

Location

241A Arts of Ancient China

Description

By the time this wine vessel was cast, bronzes were increasingly losing their ritual significance and becoming symbols of prestige and conspicuous consumption. This globular jar (hu) reflects the splendor and luxury of the time. The jar is decorated with free-flowing scrollwork and interlaced zoomorphic motifs. Cast depressions were first made on the bronze surface and then inlaid with gold. A graceful fluidity is achieved by the many sweeping lines, curves, and tendril-like networks covering the round body.

Provenance
before 1929
Acquired in China for Yamanaka & Company
by 1929
(Yamanaka & Company, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1929-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1929-present
Citations
Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323. Reproduced: p. 293, 313 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, Exhibition of Far Eastern Art, Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, December 19, 1929-January 19, 1930 (2652.1929).

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Exhibition of Chinese Bronzes, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 19-November 27, 1938, no. 187.

Chinese Art Society of America, The Art of Eastern Chou, New York, China Institute in America, November 13-December 11, 1962, no. 47.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia, Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, July 24-December 30, 1990, no. 6.

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

Chinese Art of Late Eastern Chou Dynasty. Chinese Art Society of America, New York, NY (organizer) (November 13-December 11, 1962).

Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 25, 1990).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.984