id: 136411
accession number: 1960.278
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.278
updated: 2025-08-20 00:39:11.803000
Scepter (Gui) with Miscellaneous Poems by Tao Qian (365–427 CE), 1122 or later. China, Possibly Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong period (1736-1795). Translucent white jade; overall: 2.8 x 0.3 cm (1 1/8 x 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. John Lyon Collyer in memory of her mother, Mrs. G. M. G. Forman, 1960.278
title: Scepter (Gui) with Miscellaneous Poems by Tao Qian (365–427 CE)
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1122 or later
creation date earliest: 1122
creation date latest: 1795
current location: 240B Chinese Decorative Arts
creditline: Gift of Mrs. John Lyon Collyer in memory of her mother, Mrs. G. M. G. Forman
copyright:
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culture: China, Possibly Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong period (1736-1795)
technique: translucent white jade
department: Chinese Art
collection: China - Song Dynasty
type: Jade
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 2.8 x 0.3 cm (1 1/8 x 1/8 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: "Respectfully made by the jade works of the palace work bureau, on an auspicious day in the twelfth month of the winter, in the third year of Xuanhe of the Imperial Song (Dynasty)" (1121).
On the front and back of the knife are engraved, in minute characters with double contour lines, eight complete poems entitled "Miscellaneous Thoughts" by Tao Yuanming (365–427 CE), one of the greatest early poets of China. Here are two examples:
The bright sun sinks beyond the western ridge,/
The white moon rises behind the eastern range./
Afar, afar a myriad miles it flashes,/
Immeasurably vast its light amidst the sky./
A wind comes and enters the bedroom door,/
So in the night pillow-and mat are cold./
The air seems different- - I awake to the season's change./
I cannot go to sleep and know the night's eternity,/
I wish to speak but there is no friend to talk to./
Raising my cup I challenge my lonely shadow./
The days and months fling us aside and pass;/
We have high purposes but cannot realize them./
Thinking of this I have grief and pain at heart,/
And all night long can find no quietness./
It is hard to dwell long in prosperity;/
Rise and decline cannot be reckoned on./
What were formerly lotus buds in May,/
Now in the autumn are but withered seed-pods./
A heavy frost stiffens the prairie grasses- - /
They wilt despondently and do not quickly die.-/
The sun and moon come ever circling back./
Once we depart we do not shine again./
I ponder deeply on times long past and gone/
Though to remember them tears my very entrails.
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': "Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (?-October 9, 1980); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (January 12-February 22, 1981); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (March 26- May 10, 1981); Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI (May 17-September 13, 1981).", 'opening_date': '1980-10-09T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
Mrs. John Lyon [Georgia Forman Elliott] Collyer [1898–1994], Akron, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
date: ?–1960
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1960–
footnotes:
citations:
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digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Watt, James C. Y. Chinese Jades from Han to Chʻing. New York: Asia Society, in association with J. Weatherhill, 1980.
page number:
url:
Riddell, Sheila. Dated Chinese Antiquities, 600-1650. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.
page number: p. 169, cat. 141
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.278/1960.278_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.278/1960.278_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.278/1960.278_full.tif