The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 1, 2023

The Kill

300–100 BC

China, late Warring States period (475-221 BC) to Western Han dynasty

(202 BC-AD 9)

Painted clamshell

Overall: 7.5 x 9 cm (2 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. Clark in memory of Flora L. Terry 1957.139

Location

010 Focus Gallery

Fun Fact

The marine clam species to which this shell belongs is exclusive to the western Pacific Ocean near China, Japan, the Philippines, and the East Indies.

Description

The inside of this shell preserves the earliest, extant figure paintings in Chinese history.

Provenance
Samuel Hubert Minkenhof [1879–1956], Amsterdam, Netherlands, and New York, NY
?–1957
(C.T. Loo 盧芹齋 [1880–1957], Paris, France, and New York, NY, purchased with funds from Harold T. [1882–1965] and Marie Odenkirk Clark [1896–1971] for gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1957–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Vassar College. Chinese Painting: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition May 22 to June 10, 1940. Poughkeepsie, NY: The Gallery, 1940. Mentioned: cat. nos. 1, 2, pl. 1
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 812 archive.org
Lee, Sherman E. "Early Chinese Painted Shells with Hunting Scenes." Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 11 (1957): 69–75. Mentioned: pp. 69–75; Reproduced: p. 71, figs. 1b, 2b, 3b; p. 72, fig. 4
Trubner, Henry. Arts of the Han Dynasty. New York: Chinese Art Society of America, Asia House, 1961. Mentioned: cat. no. 85
Sullivan, Michael. The Birth of Landscape Painting in China. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962. Mentioned: p. 19
Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. Mentioned and Reproduced: color pl. 6
Li, Dun Jen. The Ageless Chinese, A History. New York: Scribner, 1965. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 114
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 247 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 247 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 327 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 11 archive.org
Exhibition history

Chinese Painting. Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY (May 22-June 10, 1940).

1000 Jahre Chinesische Malerei. Haus der Kunst, Munich, Mùnich, Germany (organizer) (October 16-December 13, 1959).

The Arts of the Han Dynasty. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (February 7-March 26, 1961).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).

China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1957.139