id: 130939
accession number: 1953.628
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.628
updated: 2022-01-04 15:52:05.461000
Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head, c. 4700–2920 BC. Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700-2920 BC). Jade (nephrite); overall: 13.2 cm (5 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Severance A. Millikin 1953.628
title: Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head
title in original language: 牛首玉人
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 4700–2920 BC
creation date earliest: -4710
creation date latest: -2910
current location: 241A Arts of Ancient China
creditline: Gift of Severance A. Millikin
copyright:
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culture: Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700-2920 BC)
technique: jade (nephrite)
department: Chinese Art
collection: China - Neolithic
type: Jade
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 13.2 cm (5 3/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Primitive to Contemporary Sculpture
opening date: 1956-09-06T04:00:00
Primitive to Contemporary Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 6-October 31, 1956).
title: Chinese Jade
opening date: 1962-11-30T05:00:00
Chinese Jade. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (November 30, 1962-February 3, 1963).
title: Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture
opening date: 1975-09-24T04:00:00
Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
title: Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions
opening date: 1994-10-18T04:00:00
Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).
title: Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 2009-06-27T04:00:00
Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
John L. Severance [1863-1936], Cleveland, OH
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Severance A. Millikin [1895-1985], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
date: ?-1953
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1953-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
CMA daringly acquired this masterpiece without knowing exactly what it was. Only after Chinese archaeologists started excavating similar jades in Northeast China could it be attributed to the Hongshan culture.
digital description:
wall description:
With a bovine head and four horns, this seated figurine was a powerful ritual and shamanic symbol. Drill holes above its shoulders form two interconnected perforations for suspension, suggesting that the jade was originally used as a pendant, presumably by the shaman performing the tasks of journeying to and communicating with the supernatural realms.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
"Schamenendarstellungen," Asia Major 1, 1 (1944): p. 62.
page number:
url:
Lee, Sherman E. “More Early Chinese Jades.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 41, no. 10, 1954, pp. 215–217.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 215-217; Reproduced: fig. 1 (line drawing)
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141999
Consten, Eleanor von Erdberg. Das Alte China. Stuttgart: G. Kilpper, 1958.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 78, 244; Reproduced: pl. 43
url:
Chinese Jade. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania [Museum], 1962.
page number: no. 150
url:
Salmony, Alfred. Chinese Jade; Through the Wei Dynasty. New York: Ronald Press, 1963.
page number: pp. 218-219, 227, pl. 35:4
url:
Chêng Tê-K'un. “Some Standing Jade Figurines of the Shang-Chou Period.” Artibus Asiae, vol. 28, no. 1, 1966, pp. 39–52.
page number: Mentioned: pp. 48-49; Reproduced: fig. 10
url: www.jstor.org/stable/3249315
Hansford, S. Howard. Chinese Carved Jades. London: Faber, 1968.
page number: Reproduced: pp. 83-85, pl. 56
url:
Froncek, Thomas, and Hugh Honour. The Horizon Book of the Arts of China. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co, 1969.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 69
url:
Erickson, Ernest, Jan Wirgin, and Ulf Abel. The Ernest Erickson collection in Swedish museums. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1989.
page number: pp. 10-11
url:
Forsyth, Angus. "Five Chinese Jade Figures: Study of the Development of Sculptural Form in Hongshan Neolithic Jade Working." Orientations, 21, 5 (1990).
page number: Reproduced: p. 60, figs. 8-8b
url:
Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (1994): 270-347.
page number: Reproduced: p. 275; Mentioned: p. 275, 277, 346
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161465
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 22-w3
url:
Chung, Anita. "A Connoisseur's Eye, A Scholar's Mind: The Legacy of Sherman Lee." Orientations vol. 40, no. 5 (2009).
page number: Reproduced: p. 29, fig. 2
url:
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 12-13
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.628/1953.628_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.628/1953.628_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.628/1953.628_full.tif