Raft Cup
Zhu Bishan (attributed)
The figure watching the stars is believed to be the messenger Zhang Qian (died 114 BCE). Legend says he lost his way in the Milky Way, where he met the Weaving Maid who gave him a stone from her loom. Zhang, in fact, holds a slab inscribed loom stone. The vessel is dated, inscribed, and has a seal of the silversmith Zhu Bishan, from Zhejiang province, who ran a workshop in the Lake Tai area near Suzhou. Zhu is one of the few Chinese silversmiths known by name, producing silverware so desirable that his name was used like a trademark by his competitors and followers. Made of pure silver, and...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- overall: height 0.16 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
8 tags
Subject Matter
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Water Visual · 94%
The lower and side portions are filled with strongly modeled, curling forms that visibly evoke flowing water and waves.
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Human Figure Both · 99%
A modeled seated male figure is the central human presence, consistent with the catalog’s subject description of a male figure.
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Narrative Metadata · 90%
The catalog describes the object as representing a legendary episode involving Zhang Qian, the Milky Way, the Weaving Maid, and a loom stone.
Visual Qualities
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 99%
The surface is densely covered with chased and modeled ornament, including curling forms, textured wood-like passages, and detailed figure features.
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Irregular Curvilinear Forms Visual · 93%
The composition is dominated by irregular curling and flowing contours in the vessel body, surrounding forms, and tall rear element.
Geographic Regions
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Chinese Art Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art identifies the work as Chinese and records its place of origin as China.
Materials
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Silver Metadata · 99%
The catalog classifies the object as silver and describes it as hammered silver soldered from several pieces, with chased decoration.
Tableware, Vessels, and Objects
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Vessel Both · 99%
The museum identifies the object as a cup shaped like a hollow log; the image clearly shows an open vessel body.
Source & rights
Zhu Bishan (Chinese, c. 1300–after 1362). Raft Cup. Cleveland Museum of Art.