id: 154255 accession number: 1988.67 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.67 updated: 2022-06-14 09:01:15.554000 Silver Vessels, c. 700. Central Asia or Tibet, early 8th century. Silver with gilding; overall: 22.9 cm (9 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1988.67 title: Silver Vessels title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 700 creation date earliest: 695 creation date latest: 705 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Central Asia or Tibet, early 8th century technique: silver with gilding department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Tibetan Art type: Silver find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 22.9 cm (9 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Inscribed on bottom of beaker (1988.67.2): "Phan:shing:gong:skyes:gyi:sug:byad (or Byang)" [personal possessions of the high-born Chinese Princess] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1988 opening date: 1989-03-01T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989). title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). title: All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection opening date: 1994-11-23T05:00:00 All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (David Tremayne, Ltd., London, United Kingdom, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1988 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1988– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: These vessels attest to the international climate that pervaded the regions of China, Tibet, and Central Asia during the time of the expansionist Tang dynasty (618–907). It is ornamented predominantly with Central Asian elements, including grape vines, beaded borders, and heart-shaped motifs. Sogdian craftsmen are known to have specialized in the technique of offsetting the silver repoussé design with gilded foil. The form of the animal-headed rhyton as a drinking vessel and the use of silver derive from Persian sources, while the lush, luxurious quality of the design and the form of the lions and curling dragon on one side of the vase reveal an awareness of Chinese forms. An ownership inscription in Tibetan script on the underside of the cup identifies the vessel as a personal possession of a Chinese queen. Whether a later addition or not, the inscription attests to the importance of marital alliances between the ruling elite in Tibet and neighboring regions during the early decades of the political consolidation and unification of Tibet. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Carter, Martha L. "Three Silver Vessels from Tibet's Earliest Historical Era: A Preliminary Study." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 3 (1998) 22-47. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 22-31, figs. 1-9c url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20079697 Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 216 url: Kosmin, Paul. "Banqueting on the Move." In Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World page number: Mentioned: p.338, p. 384, cat. # 62 url: Debreczeny, Karl. Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism. New York, NY: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019. page number: Reproduced: fig. 3.5, pp. 8-9 and p. 76 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.67/1988.67_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.67/1988.67_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.67/1988.67_full.tif