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 Notable Acquisitions. 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 Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. 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.

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.

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." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 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." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 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