id: 117940
accession number: 1938.9
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1938.9
updated: 2022-04-05 13:46:44.407000
Cranes and Serpents, 475–221 BC. China, reportedly from Hunan province, Changsha, Warring States period (475-221 BC), State of Chu (c. 1046-223 BC). Lacquered wood with polychromy; overall: 132.1 x 124.5 cm (52 x 49 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.9
title: Cranes and Serpents
title in original language: 蛇座鳳鳥鼓架
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 475–221 BC
creation date earliest: -475
creation date latest: -221
current location: 241A Arts of Ancient China
creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:
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culture: China, reportedly from Hunan province, Changsha, Warring States period (475-221 BC), State of Chu (c. 1046-223 BC)
technique: lacquered wood with polychromy
department: Chinese Art
collection: China - Zhou Dynasty
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 132.1 x 124.5 cm (52 x 49 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition
opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Survey of Early Chinese Art. Yamanaka & Co., New York, NY (January 1938).
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PROVENANCE
(Mr. Umekichi Asano [1877-1960], Ōsaka, Japan)
date: 1934 or later-before 1938
footnotes:
citations:
(Yamanaka and Company, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
date: ?-1938
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1938-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
This extraordinary sculpture was probably a drum stand for supporting a suspended drum in ritual ceremonies.
digital description:
wall description:
A different style of ritual art developed in the state of Chu in South China. In addition to bronze vessels, lacquered wood artifacts expanded the repertory of ritual implements.
This extraordinary sculpture was probably a drum stand for supporting a suspended drum in ritual ceremonies. It is unique among other excavated drum stands of the Chu, which typically show two birds standing on tigers. The theme of the bird stepping on the serpent was common in the Chu visual culture. Yet the slender proportions and seemingly flimsy structure of this particular set raise the question of whether it was utilitarian or mostly served symbolic functions in the tomb.
The birds' and serpents' bodies have designs painted in red lacquer and yellow pigment against the black lacquer. Scientific analyses confirm the additional use of a blue or green pigment that has been discolored over time.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Umehara Sueji 梅原末治 and Mizuno Seiichi 水野清一. "Wooden Cranes and Snakes, decorated with Lacquer, said to have been discovered in Chang-sha, China" [傳長沙出土の漆畫雙鶴雙蛇に就いて]. Bijutsu Kenkyū [美術硏究 = Journal of the Japanese Art History Society] no. 72 (December 1937), pp. 487-491.
page number: Reproduced: pp. 489, 490, pl. V-VII
url:
“Accessions.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 25, no. 2, 1938, pp. 29–32.
page number: Mentioned: p. 30
url: www.jstor.org/stable/25137905
Hollis, Howard C. “Cranes and Serpents.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 25, no. 8, 1938, pp. 147–151, 159.
page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: pp. 147-151 and 159
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25137954
Morgan, Whitney. “Museum Accessions.” Parnassus, vol. 11, no. 1, 1939, pp. 37–41.
page number: Reproduced: p. 37
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/771774
“Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 4, 1953, pp. 195–202.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 200
url: www.jstor.org/stable/41663172
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 805
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n143
Consten, Eleanor von Erdberg. Das Alte China. Stuttgart: G. Kilpper, 1958.
page number: Reprodcued: pl. 71. p. 107, 244
url:
Misugi, Takatoshi 三杉隆敏. Chūgoku kinseki tōji zukan [中國金石陶瓷圖鑑 = Old Chinese Art]. Ōsaka: Chūgoku Kinseki Tōji Zukan Kankōkai, 1961.
page number: Reproduced: no. 33
url:
Misugi, Takatoshi 三杉隆敏. Chūgoku kinseki tōji zukan [中國金石陶瓷圖鑑 = Old Chinese Art]. Ōsaka: Chūgoku Kinseki Tōji Zukan Kankōkai, 1961.
page number: Reproduced: no. 33
url:
Tucci, Giuseppe, and Antonio Gargano. Le Civiltà dell'Oriente ... Sotto la dir. di Giuseppe Tucci vol. 4 Arte [Roma]: G. Casini, 1962.
page number: p. 1100
url:
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page number: p. 286
url:
Fontein, Jan. "The Oriental Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art." Apollo: A Journal of the Arts 78 (December 1963): 468-469.
page number: pp. 468-469
url:
Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964.
page number: Reproduced: pp. 52-53
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 246
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n270
Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: pl. 52
url:
Luzzatto-Bilitz, Oscar. Lacche orientali. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: pl. 1
url:
Watson, William. Early Civilization in China. London: Thames & Hudson, 1966.
page number: p. 129
url:
Riviere, Jean Roger. "El Arte de la China." Summa artis, historia general del arte 20 (1966)
page number: p. 219
url:
Alsop, Joseph. "Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art." Art in America 54 no. 3 (May-June 1966). pp. 21-44.
page number: Reproduced: p. 22
url:
Alsop, Joseph. "Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre de Premiere Importance du Second Musee des Etats-Unis." Connaissance des arts 172 (June 1966).
page number: p. 63
url:
Munsterberg, Hugo. Der Ferne Osten. Baden-Baden: Holle, 1968.
page number: Reproduced: p. 33
url:
Aida, Yūji. Sekai rekishi shirīzu [世界歴史シリーズ = World History Series]. Vol. 3 Kodai Chūgoku 古代中国. Tōkyō: Sekai Bunkasha, 1968.
page number: Reproduced: p. 80
url:
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page number: Reproduced: p. 246
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n270
Froncek, Thomas, ed. and Hugh Honour. The Horizon Book of the Arts of China. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co, 1969.
page number: p. 265
url:
Kadokawa Shoten, ed. A Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Oriental Arts: China. Vol.1. New York: Crown Publishers, 1969.
page number: p. 10
url:
Fricke, Berthold, editor. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Hannover: Knorr & Hirth, 1970.
page number: Reproduced: p. 94; Mentioned: p. 95
url:
Barnard, Noel. "Some Remarks upon the Origin and the Nature of the Art of Ch'u." in Waikato University China Papers: Proceedings of the First New Zealand International Conference on Chinese Studies, University of Waikato, Hamilton New Zealand, 17-20 May 1972. Dov Bing, ed. Hamilton, New Zealand: Conference on Chinese Studies, 1972.
page number: Reproduced: fig. 6:12
url:
Cooper, Barbara, and Maureen Matheson, editors. The World Museums Guide. London: Threshold Books Ltd, 1973.
page number: p. 78
url:
Glubok, Shirley. The Art of China. New York: Macmillan, 1973.
page number: p. 24
url:
Ridley, Michael. Treasures of China. New York: Arco Pub. Co, 1974.
page number: p. 36
url:
T'an Tan-chiung. "The Fei-i and the Paired Dragon and Phoenix" [«肥遺» 和 «龍鳳配»]. Dong Wu da xue Zhongguo yi shu shi ji kan [東吳大學中國藝術史集刊 = Soochow University journal of Chinese art history vol. 6 (September 1976): pp. 1-32.
page number: Reproduced: Pl. XV
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 327
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n347
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page number: Reproduced: pl. 180
url:
Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan [National Palace Museum = 國立故宮博物院]. Hai wai yi zhen. Qi qi [Chinese art in overseas collections. Lacquerware = 海外遺珎. 漆器]. Taibei Shi Shilin qu Waishuangxi: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1987.
page number: Reproduced: pl. 2
url:
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page number: Reproduced: p. 9
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n24
Lee, Sherman E., and Naomi Noble Richard. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 52–53, fig. 65
url:
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page number: Reproduced: pp. 30-31
url:
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page number: Reproduced: pl. no. 24, pp. 71-72
url:
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page number: Reproduced: no. 214, p. 214
url:
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page number: Reproduced: figs. 122-123
url:
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page number: Reproduced: no. 77, p. 73; Mentioned: p. 118
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.9/1938.9_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.9/1938.9_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.9/1938.9_full.tif