Pipa (1800s): Art, History and Details

Pipa (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The term pipa, known since the 3rd century BC, describes the playing motion of the right hand: pi, “to play forward” (left), and pa, “to play backward” (right). A type of lute played with the fingers, it is used in opera and storytelling ensembles and has an impressive, virtuosic solo repertoire. Historic imagery, such as wall paintings, documents the spread of the pipa, along the Silk Road from western and central Asia to China. The bat finial here is a commonly used device on 19th-century Chinese lutes symbolizing good luck.

Object facts

• Title: Pipa
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Musical Instrument
• Technique: Wood, ivory, bone, gut
• Dimensions: Overall: 95.4 x 27.4 x 8 cm (37 9/16 x 10 13/16 x 3 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Chinese Art
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1918.344

A detail from the museum

The string holder is made of bone.

Collection credit

The Charles G. King Jr. collection; Gift of Ralph King in memory of Charles G. King Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 8/9 (1918): 82-85.
• D. S. M. "Exhibition of Musical Instruments." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 9 (1921): 134-43.
• Peng, Wei 彭薇, and Clarissa von Spee. Migrations of Memory: The Poetry and Power of Music by Chinese Artist Peng Wei in Collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art = 平沙落雁—音樂的詩意與力量: 中國藝術家彭薇與克利夫蘭藝術博物館合作. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021.

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.