Monster Face: Door Ring Holder (Pushou) (500s): Art, History and Details

Monster Face: Door Ring Holder (Pushou) (500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This gilt bronze Door Ring Holder is in the form of a monster head with curving horns, protruding eyes, three-clawed paws, curling beard, and flame-shaped hair. The tongue dangles from the mouth, in which the creature originally grasped a ring. While it had a practical function as a door knocker, the intimidating form could also frighten away both intruders and evil spirits.

Object facts

• Title: Monster Face: Door Ring Holder (Pushou)
• Date: 500s
• Culture: China, Henan province, Northern Dynasties period (386–581 CE)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 13.6 x 20 cm (5 3/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Southern Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1930.731

A detail from the museum

Three rivet holes (one on the forehead and one by each limb) were used to nail the mask onto a door.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kümmel, Otto. Jörg Trübner zum Gedächtnis. Ergebnisse seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen. Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1930.
• Hollis, Howard C. “Two Chinese Bronzes.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 18, no. 4 (April 1931): 66–73.
• Chinese Bronzes of the Shang (1766-1122 B.C.) Through the Tʻang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906); An Exhibition Lent by American Collectors and Museums and Shown in Gallery D6 from October 19 Through November 27. 1938. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1938.

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.