Jar with Dragon and Phoenix Design (1522–66): Art, History and Details

Jar with Dragon and Phoenix Design (1522–66) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

A phoenix and dragon alternating with two auspicious ornate characters—“fortune” 福（fu) and “longevity” 壽 (shou)—adorn this exquisitely carved lacquer jar. Similar to contemporary five-color (wucai) decoration on porcelain, this jar shows layers of lacquer in black, ochre, green, and cinnabar (red). In a time-consuming process, a multitude of lacquer coatings were applied to the wooden core before its design could be carved into the surface. The phoenix and dragon are imperial emblems suggesting that this jar was made for the court. The base of the jar is inscribed: “Made in the Jiajing-era of the Great Ming [dynasty].”

Object facts

• Title: Jar with Dragon and Phoenix Design
• Date: 1522–66
• Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Jiajing mark and reign (1522-66)
• Type: Lacquer
• Technique: carved lacquer in cinnabar and other colors
• Dimensions: Overall: 11.8 cm (4 5/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1972.14

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Garner, Sir Harry Mason. Chinese Lacquer. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.
• Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323.
• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79.

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.