id:			169511
accession number:	2011.34.a
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2011.34.a
updated:		2023-03-29 11:10:00.809000

Round Box with Decoration of Two Pheasants and Peonies, late 1200s. China, late Southern Song (1127-1279) - early Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Carved lacquer; overall: 21 x 40.6 cm (8 1/4 x 16 in.); lid: 8.5 x 40.6 cm (3 3/8 x 16 in.); bottom: 12.5 x 40.6 cm (4 15/16 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2011.34.a

title:				Round Box with Decoration of Two Pheasants and Peonies
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			late 1200s
creation date earliest:		1270
creation date latest:		1299
current location:		
creditline:			Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	China, late Southern Song (1127-1279) - early Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
technique:	carved lacquer
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	China - Song Dynasty
type:		Lacquer
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 21 x 40.6 cm (8 1/4 x 16 in.); Lid: 8.5 x 40.6 cm (3 3/8 x 16 in.); Bottom: 12.5 x 40.6 cm (4 15/16 x 16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	山
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 100)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 29, 2011-September 20, 2011).

* <em>Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 241)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 5, 2013-January 9, 2015).

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PROVENANCE

	(Takashi Yanagi at Yanagi Fine Art Shop, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?–2011
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 2011–
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:
The footring is carved with a band of continuous key-fret, above which is another band of spiral scroll pattern.

digital description:


wall description:
This box is among the extremely rare and precious carved lacquer ware from the Song and early Yuan period and is arguably one of the most monumental and significant examples of the type. It exhibits extremely fine craftsmanship. To allow for the depth of carving, numerous layers of different colored lacquer were applied to a core of wood strengthened by a fabric covering impregnated with lacquer. Each layer was allowed to set before the next was applied, taking a long time to construct the lacquered body before the carving could begin.<br><br>Carved on top with two birds in flight against a floral ground and a band of spiral scrolls, it is a bold manifestation of the naturalistic and abstract approaches to carved lacquer decoration. The lively depiction of the subjects combined with the sinuous scrolls expresses the flux and freedom of nature.<br><br>Lacquer ware was always a valuable product in Chinese material culture and was often used as precious gifts in diplomatic, religious, and economic exchanges with other countries—Japan, for example, where this box was long preserved and acquired.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Garner, Harry Mason. <em>Chinese Lacquer</em>. London: Faber, 1979.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Tokugawa Bijutsukan 徳川美術館, and Nezu Bijutsukan 根津美術館. <em>Chōshitsu: urushi no rerīfu</em> [彫漆 : うるしのレリーフ = Carved lacquer]. [Nagoya-shi]: Tokugawa Bijutsukan, 1984.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Watt, James C. Y., and Barbara Brennan Ford.<em> East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	<em>Karamono shikki: Chūgoku, Chōsen, Ryūkyū </em>[唐物漆器 : 中国・朝鮮・琉球 =  Karamono: Imported Lacquerwork-Chinese, Korean, and Ryukyuan (Okinawa)]. Nagoya-shi: Tokugawa Bijutsukan, 1997.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	<em>Sō Gen no bi: denrai no shikki to chūshin ni </em>[宋元の美 : 伝来の漆器を中心に = Colors and forms of Song and Yuan China - featuring lacquerwares, ceramics and metalwares]. Tōkyō: Nezu Bijutsukan, 2004.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Negrotti, Rosanna<em>. </em>"Acquisition of the Year." <em>Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors, </em>December 2011, Vol. 174, Issue 593, pp. 62-73.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 64, fig. 4
	url:		

	Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 10, 108–109
	url:		

	“Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2010-2011.” <em>Archives of Asian Art</em> 62 (2012): 105–153.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 114, fig. 10
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/43677806

	Franklin, David. “Recent Acquisitions (2005—11) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>The Burlington Magazine</em> 154, no. 1312 (2012): 525–532.
	page number: 	Reproduced: fig. II, pp. 525
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/23232806

	Springer, Samantha. "Re-examining the Cleveland Carved Lacquer Box: The Conservator's Perspective." <em>Orientations</em>; Volume 44 Number 8 (November/December 2013), 76–78.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 76–78, Fig. 1-4
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2011.34.a/2011.34.a_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2011.34.a/2011.34.a_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2011.34.a/2011.34.a_full.tif