Jar with Lion-Head Handles
Appreciated for its strong profile, brilliant blue color, and firm delineation of the decorative patterns, this jar is a classic example of Yuan dynasty blue-and-white ware. This type of ware was produced no later than the 1330s for both domestic use (the court and common people alike) and overseas trade. This example testifies to the transmission of artistic ideas and techniques between China and the rest of the great Mongol Empire as a result of trade. The cobalt that was used for the blue underglaze decoration was imported from Iran, likely from Kashan. The band of cloud-collar motifs wi...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- diameter of mouth: width 0.156 m; overall: height 0.394 m, width 0.375 m
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- John L. Severance Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Flora Visual · 97%
Flowers, leafy vines, and scrolling botanical forms are prominent across the shoulder, central body, and lower decorative bands.
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Animals Both · 93%
The catalog identifies the handles as lion-headed and describes phoenixes in the cloud-collar band; animal-headed handles and bird-like decorative forms are visible in the image.
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Cross-Cultural Dialogue Metadata · 95%
The museum explicitly describes the jar as evidence of the transmission of artistic ideas and techniques between China and other parts of the Mongol Empire through trade, including Iranian cobalt and related Ilkhanid decorative vocabulary.
Visual Qualities
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 98%
The vessel is covered almost entirely by multiple bands of blue-and-white decoration, including floral motifs, scrolling forms, cloud-like motifs, framed panels, and geometric borders.
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Patterns Visual · 98%
Repeated geometric borders, scrolling vines, floral arrangements, cloud-like forms, and framed panels organize the surface into recurring decorative patterns.
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Symmetrical Visual · 93%
The frontal view shows a strongly balanced profile, paired side handles, and orderly horizontal decorative registers.
Time Periods
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1000 - 1400 CE Art Metadata · 98%
The catalog dates the object to the 1300s, within the 1300–1368 range.
Geographic Regions
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Chinese Art Metadata · 99%
The work originated in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China, and belongs to the museum's Chinese Art classification.
Materials
Tableware, Vessels, and Objects
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Vessel Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the object as a jar, and the image clearly shows a large three-dimensional container with an open mouth, rounded body, neck, and foot.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Jar with Lion-Head Handles. Cleveland Museum of Art.