The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 29, 2023

The Hunt

300–100 BCE

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 Homer H. Tielke, Jr., in honor of the fortieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Homer H. Tielke, Sr. 1957.141

Location

241A Arts of Ancient China

Fun Fact

A four-horse chariot and a two-horse chariot are both depicted in this hunting scene.

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 Homer H. Tielke Jr. [1918–2004] 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. 1a, 2a, 3a
Goepper, Roger. 1000 Jahre chinesische Malerei. München: Haus der Kunst, 1959. Mentioned: cat. no. 1
Trubner, Henry. Arts of the Han Dynasty. New York: Chinese Art Society of America, Asia House, 1961. Mentioned: cat. no. 85
Chinese Art: An Exhibition of Paintings, Jades, Bronzes and Ceramics: Being a Contribution Made by Smith College Museum of Art to the College Interim Session, 1962. Northampton, MA: The Smith College Museum of Art, 1962. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 1, pl. 1
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
Toynbee, Arnold, and Elsé Glahn. Half the World: The History and Culture of China and Japan. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 37, pl. 12
Exhibition history

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

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

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

Chinese Art. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (January 8-26, 1962).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-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/1957.141