id: 146236 accession number: 1972.102 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.102 updated: 2023-04-26 11:23:55.778000 Oil Ampulla in the Form of a Dancing Bear, AD 200s. Italy, Roman, 3rd century. Bronze; overall: 14.6 x 10.4 x 9.5 cm (5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 3 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1972.102 title: Oil Ampulla in the Form of a Dancing Bear title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: AD 200s creation date earliest: 200 creation date latest: 300 current location: 103 Roman creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Roman, 3rd century technique: bronze department: Greek and Roman Art collection: GR - Roman type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 14.6 x 10.4 x 9.5 cm (5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 3 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1972 opening date: 1973-02-27T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973). title: Echoes from Olympus: Reflections of Divinity in Small-Scale Classical Art opening date: 1974-08-15T04:00:00 Echoes from Olympus: Reflections of Divinity in Small-Scale Classical Art. University of California, Berkeley. University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA (organizer) (August 15-December 15, 1974). title: A Cleveland Bestiary opening date: 1981-10-15T04:00:00 A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Echoes from Olympus: The Minot Arts of Classical Antiquity, University of California Art Museum, Berkeley, CA (Aug. 15 - Dec. 15, 1974). --- PROVENANCE Istanbul date: c. 1967 footnotes: citations: DeClerq Collection date: footnotes: citations: (Mathias Komor, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1972 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1972- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This ampulla was likely used to carry oil to the baths in antiquity. digital description: This bronze bear sits on its hindquarters with its front paws raised, head slightly turned left, and mouth gaping open. It wears a collar around its neck with two rings on either side, where a chain would be passed through to suspend the ampulla. The bear’s head is hinged at the back of the collar to open the vessel, with the lower jaw forming a spout. The eyes were once pierced to prevent an airlock within the ampulla. Bears, like many other animals in antiquity, were used as a form of entertainment, demonstrated here by the bear’s “dancing” pose. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1972." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (1973): 63-115. page number: p. 67 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25093732 "États-Unis Acquisitions des Musées," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, No. 1249 (Feb. 1973) page number: p. 105, no. 374 url: Kozloff, Arielle P. "A Bronze Menagerie." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 3 (1976): 75-88. page number: pp. 84-86 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152628 "Recent Acquisitions of American and Canadian Museums." The Art Quarterly XXXVI no. 1/2 (Spring/Summer 1976). page number: p. 112 & 121 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. 28 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n48 Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. page number: Reproduced: p. 39; Mentioned: p. 39, p. 62 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 14 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n29 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.102/1972.102_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.102/1972.102_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.102/1972.102_full.tif