{
"data": {
"id": 149447,
"accession_number": "1978.9.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Ritual Mace, early 1400s. Sino-Tibetan, Derge School, Yongle period (1403-1427). Iron alloy with gold inlay; overall: 38.5 cm (15 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1978.9.2",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Ritual Mace",
"creation_date": "early 1400s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1400,
"creation_date_latest": 1425,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Sino-Tibetan, Derge School, Yongle period (1403-1427)"
],
"technique": "iron alloy with gold inlay",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Tibetan Art",
"type": "Metalwork",
"measurements": "Overall: 38.5 cm (15 3/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"length": 0.385,
"length_inch": 15,
"length_inch_fraction": 0.1875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 216467,
"title": "The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art",
"description": "The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 5, 2003-January 11, 2004); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (February 8-May 9, 2004).",
"opening_date": "2003-10-05T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 206243,
"title": "Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China",
"description": "Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 1-July 10, 2005).",
"opening_date": "2005-04-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 202079,
"title": "Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art",
"description": "Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-September 15, 2013).",
"opening_date": "2013-05-05T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Los Angeles County Museum of Art (10/5/2003 - 1/11/2004) and Columbus Museum of Art (2/8/2004 - 5/9/2004): \"The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditaional Art,\" exh. cat. no. 108, p. 366-367.",
"opening_date": "2003-10-05T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Metropolitan Museum of Art (4/1/2005-7/10/2005): \"Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Fifteenth-Century China\"",
"opening_date": "2005-04-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art (05/05/2013 - 09/15/2013); \"Focus:Tantra in Buddhist Art\"",
"opening_date": "2013-05-05T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"1978.10"
],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Ceremonial weaponry was used in tantric rituals to combat obstacles to enlightenment, such as ignorance and uncontrolled passions. In 1407 a high-ranking Tibetan monastic patriarch visited the emperor of the Ming dynasty, known as Yongle. The Yongle emperor presented him with a number of gifts, of which the axe, mace, flaying knife, incense burner (1983.154), and the gilt bronze Virupa (1972.96) appear to have been a part, since the sculpture and the axe bear his identifying inscription in a cartouche. Imperial Chinese workmanship is noted in the lush rendering of the lion heads from which the blades emerge, the calligraphic serpentine forms, and the cloud motifs.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79930734"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1978.9.2-ritual-mace"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003.",
"page_number": "366-369",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1978.9.2",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
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"date_created": "2009-12-08T23:42:34",
"annotation": ""
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],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 149447,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1978-05-08T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1400,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "early 1400s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "component",
"conservation_statement": null,
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"cover_accession_number": "1978.9",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:41:55.013000"
}
}