id:			151373
accession number:	1983.213
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.213
updated:		2023-03-14 12:01:21.511000

Mirror with Xiwangmu, c. AD 317–400. China, Six Dynasties Period (AD 317–581). Bronze; diameter: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1983.213

title:				Mirror with Xiwangmu
title in original language:	西王母鏡
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. AD 317–400
creation date earliest:		312
creation date latest:		405
current location:		
creditline:			The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	China, Six Dynasties Period (AD 317–581)
technique:	bronze
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	China - Southern Dynasties
type:		Metalwork
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Diameter: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		The Year in Review for 1983
	opening date:   1984-02-22T05:00:00
	<i>The Year in Review for 1983</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).

	title:		Mirrors: Art and Symbol
	opening date:   1984-07-03T04:00:00
	<i>Mirrors: Art and Symbol</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 3-November 18, 1984).

	title:		Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China
	opening date:   1988-02-10T05:00:00
	<i>Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-April 10, 1988).

	title:		Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions
	opening date:   1994-10-18T04:00:00
	<i>Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994).

	title:		Escaping to a Better World: Eccentrics and Immortals in Chinese Art (Chinese art rotation)
	opening date:   2022-05-13T04:00:00
	<i>Escaping to a Better World: Eccentrics and Immortals in Chinese Art (Chinese art rotation)</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-November 6, 2022).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull
	date: ?–1983
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(Sotheby's New York, NY. Important Chinese Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull. 6 December 1983 sale, Lot 8, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: December 6, 1983
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1983–
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
This mirror depicts Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, and her husband, Dongwanggong, King Father of the East, surrounded by mythical figures and animals. One of the earliest and most powerful goddesses in the Daoist pantheon, Xiwangmu can be identified by her U-shaped crown. Legend says that the two deities meet once a year representing the meeting of yin and yang, the two forces that constitute the universe. This mirror shows a band of 14 squares around the center containing a long inscription.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Bulling, Anneliese Gutkind. <em>The Decoration of Mirrors of the Han Period: A Chronology</em>. Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1960.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 95–96 and pl. 79
	url:		

	Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York. <em>Important Chinese Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull</em>. 6 December 1983.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: Lot 8
	url:		

	Turner, Evan H. "Year in Review for 1983." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 71, no. 2 (1984): 38–79.
	page number: 	Mentioned: no. 258, p. 79; Reproduced: no. 258, p. 62
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159848

	Little, Stephen. <em>Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China: the Cleveland Museum of Art, February 10-April 10, 1988</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 12
	url:		

	Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 81, no. 8 (1994): 270–347.
	page number: 	cat. no. 29, p. 347
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161465

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.213/1983.213_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.213/1983.213_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.213/1983.213_full.tif