Cup with Daoist Figures (1736–95): Art, History and Details

Cup with Daoist Figures (1736–95) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

During the Qing dynasty, Suzhou’s best products were sent north to the capital. Those that met imperial approval were sometimes graced with Qianlong’s mark, added by calligraphers and jade workers at court. The lack of a Qianlong mark on the Cleveland cup suggests that it might not have reached the court. Previously dated to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), new scholarship dates this cup to the Qing period.

Object facts

• Title: Cup with Daoist Figures
• Date: 1736–95
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong period (1736–95)
• Type: Jade
• Technique: Pale greenish-white jade
• Dimensions: Diameter of mouth: 10.3 cm (4 1/16 in.); Overall: 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.); width with handles: 16 cm (6 5/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Yuan Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1952.510

A detail from the museum

Two female immortals serve as handles, while a Daoist procession with immortals, musicians, and attendants winds around the body of the cup.

Collection credit

Anonymous Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Chinese Carved Jades.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 41, no. 4 (April 1954): 67–71.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.