id:			156159
accession number:	1991.8
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.8
updated:		

Shallow Basin Supported by a Bird (Bian), early 400s BC. China, Warring States period (475-221 BC). Bronze inlaid with powdered malachite and azurite ; overall: 23.3 cm (9 3/16 in.); diameter of base: 18.3 cm (7 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1991.8

title:				Shallow Basin Supported by a Bird (Bian)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			early 400s BC
creation date earliest:		-500
creation date latest:		-475
current location:		241A Arts of Ancient China
creditline:			Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	China, Warring States period (475-221 BC)
technique:	bronze inlaid with powdered malachite and azurite 
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	China - Zhou Dynasty
type:		Metalwork
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 23.3 cm (9 3/16 in.); Diameter of base: 18.3 cm (7 3/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Notable Acquisitions
	opening date:   1991-06-07T04:00:00
	<i>Notable Acquisitions</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

	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).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* CMA 1994 Asian Autumn: "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions," cat., Bull., vol. 81, no. 8 (October 1994) cat. no. 13, p. 346, pp. 292-296, repr. p. 292

---

PROVENANCE

	(Robert H. Ellsworth, Ltd., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1991
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1991-present
	date: 1991-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
The bird, in its graceful and dignified pose, firmly grasps a pair of intertwined serpents cast in the lower basin. This composition of the bird's triumph over the serpent has been given various interpretations. <br><br>The Chinese ethnographers regard this as a totemic symbol—a suggestion of a specific clan's superiority over contending neighboring peoples. Other scholars interpret this as good creatures warding off evil influences or as an early manifestation of the concept of complementary pairing (yin-yang, heaven-earth) in Chinese cosmology. <br><br>The original appearance of this vessel was brilliant and colorful due to the use of malachite and azurite in inlaid decoration, producing red, green, and blue against the bronze surface.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Wilson, J. Keith. "Notable Acquisitions." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147.
	page number: 	Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 126
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319

	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: 	Reproduced: p. 292; Mentioned: p. 292-96, 346
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161465

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.8/1991.8_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.8/1991.8_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.8/1991.8_full.tif