Covered Jar with Carved Lotus Petals (386–581 CE): Art, History and Details

Covered Jar with Carved Lotus Petals (386–581 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This jar still has its original cover, which is rare among surviving examples. Its missing knob most likely had the shape of a lotus bud. Beautifully carved lotus petals cover the vessel’s shoulder and lid under a translucent green glaze. In Buddhism, the lotus is a flower symbolizing purity and detachment from worldly affairs; its presence suggests that this vessel was meant to be used in a religious context. The well-crafted double loop handles may have held a silk cloth or other textile that would have been folded over the lid to keep it in place. This aesthetic prefigures the celebrated green celadons in adjacent regions.

Object facts

• Title: Covered Jar with Carved Lotus Petals
• Date: 386–581 CE
• Culture: China, Northern Dynasties period (386-581)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Glazed stoneware
• Dimensions: Lid: 2.8 x 14.1 cm (1 1/8 x 5 9/16 in.); vessel only: 21.8 x 24.3 cm (8 9/16 x 9 9/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Northern Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2017.16

Collection credit

Gift of Donna and James Reid

Further reading listed by the museum

• von Spee, Clarissa. "Acquisition Highlights: Asian Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58. no. 2 (March/April 2018): 10–11.

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.