COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1989.2
amicoid
CMA_.1989.2
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
oty
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Object Type
false
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
crc
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Dates/Places:
China
cdt
China
Creator Dates/Places
false
Creator Name-CRT:
China, Early Tang Dynasty
crt
China, Early Tang Dynasty
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
Ewer
otn
Ewer
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
c. 675-725
oct
c. 675-725
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
675
ocs
675
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
725
oce
725
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
stoneware with green glaze and incised, molded, modeled, and applied decoration
omd
stoneware with green glaze and incised, molded, modeled, and applied decoration
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Ceramic
clt
Ceramic
Classification Term
false
Classification Term:
Ceramic
clt
Ceramic
Classification Term
false
Dimensions:
Overall: 42.1cm
met
Overall: 42.1cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1989.2
ooa
1989.2
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
John L. Severance Fund
ooc
John L. Severance Fund
Credit Line
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Paths across the vast Central Asian desert did more than facilitate the travel of Buddhist missionaries and pilgrims to and from China. They also provided a course for the exchange of goods between China and the West. The fabled Silk Road--actually a series of highways and byways linking settlements and oases from western China to northern India and Iran--was the way that textiles and ceramics reached the West in return for metalwork and glass. These imported luxury goods profoundly influenced indigenous artistic traditions at both ends of the road. The effects of East-West trade are illustrated in this striking green-glazed ewer. The large ovoid vessel stands on a small ring foot and tapers to a narrow ribbed neck. An exotic bird perching at the top serves as the spout, and its long arched tail functions as the handle. Other birds appear elsewhere on the vessel in the five rings of the main ornamental register. The irregularly shaped spaces between these circles are filled with curly elements arranged to suggest clouds above plants. Plants are also featured in the band above, with each of ten small circular frames enclosing a different botanical type. These two registers are bordered by belts of jewel-like motifs and lotus petals executed in molded clay. The shape, structure, and decoration of this ewer can be traced to silver vessels manufactured in Sassanian Iran and districts of Central Asia that were influenced by its designs. Unlike early ceramic varieties native to China, these foreign metal types were bulbous and fitted with a spreading ring foot. They were decorated not with subtly outlined forms but with hammered relief patterns frequently featuring large roundels with humans, animals, birds, and plants. The conversion of a foreign metal prototype to the medium of clay may have inspired the particular Chinese potter of the Cleveland ewer to try an unusual decorative technique involving slender rolls of clay. Strangely, the result does not effectively simulate the hammered designs found on metalwork, but instead recalls the more linear decor characteristic of Mediterranean glassware embellished with applied glass strands. Such glassware was known in China and may have influenced the methods of the potter. Possibly because the rolled clay technique was much more time-consuming than molding, it did not gain favor and is virtually unknown elsewhere. K.W.
cxd
Paths across the vast Central Asian desert did more than facilitate the travel of Buddhist missionaries and pilgrims to and from China. They also provided a course for the exchange of goods between China and the West. The fabled Silk Road--actually a series of highways and byways linking settlements and oases from western China to northern India and Iran--was the way that textiles and ceramics reached the West in return for metalwork and glass. These imported luxury goods profoundly influenced indigenous artistic traditions at both ends of the road. The effects of East-West trade are illustrated in this striking green-glazed ewer. The large ovoid vessel stands on a small ring foot and tapers to a narrow ribbed neck. An exotic bird perching at the top serves as the spout, and its long arched tail functions as the handle. Other birds appear elsewhere on the vessel in the five rings of the main ornamental register. The irregularly shaped spaces between these circles are filled with curly elements arranged to suggest clouds above plants. Plants are also featured in the band above, with each of ten small circular frames enclosing a different botanical type. These two registers are bordered by belts of jewel-like motifs and lotus petals executed in molded clay. The shape, structure, and decoration of this ewer can be traced to silver vessels manufactured in Sassanian Iran and districts of Central Asia that were influenced by its designs. Unlike early ceramic varieties native to China, these foreign metal types were bulbous and fitted with a spreading ring foot. They were decorated not with subtly outlined forms but with hammered relief patterns frequently featuring large roundels with humans, animals, birds, and plants. The conversion of a foreign metal prototype to the medium of clay may have inspired the particular Chinese potter of the Cleveland ewer to try an unusual decorative technique involving slender rolls of clay. Strangely, the result does not effectively simulate the hammered designs found on metalwork, but instead recalls the more linear decor characteristic of Mediterranean glassware embellished with applied glass strands. Such glassware was known in China and may have influenced the methods of the potter. Possibly because the rolled clay technique was much more time-consuming than molding, it did not gain favor and is virtually unknown elsewhere. K.W.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1989.2.tif
ril
CMA_.1989.2.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false