Clip for Paper with Sage Seated Under a Pine (1600s or 1700s): Art, History and Details

Clip for Paper with Sage Seated Under a Pine (1600s or 1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pu Zhongqian (Chinese, active 1600s).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In China, access to political power was granted to those who passed the civil service examinations, a system that offered official service only at a high level of education. Chinese literati-officials whose daily routine was administrative work in an office, enjoyed precious objects on their writing desks that offered distraction and demonstrated good taste. By the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, these utensils of the literati studio became also collectibles and were treasured as artworks. Desk objects included paper weights, seals and seal paste boxes, brush rests, wrist rests, brush holders, water droppers, ink cakes, miniature mountains, and albums, all ranging in material from jade, gilt bronze, lacquer, and wood to porcelain.

Object facts

• Title: Clip for Paper with Sage Seated Under a Pine
• Date: 1600s or 1700s
• Creator attribution: Pu Zhongqian (Chinese, active 1600s)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Wood
• Technique: carved bamboo
• Dimensions: Overall: 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1977.8

A detail from the museum

Pu Zhongqian was considered a master bamboo carver.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Sotheby's London. Early Chinese Ceramics; Sung, Ming and Ch'ing Wares; Lacquer; Works of Art. December 14, 1976. Lot 234.
• Ip, Yee, and Laurence C. S. Tam. Chinese Bamboo Carving [中國竹刻藝術 = Zhongguo Zhu Ke Yi Shu]. Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1978.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1977.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 1 (1978): 2–42.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.