Prunus Wood (1700–1899): Art, History and Details
Prunus Wood at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1700–1899, wood carving. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Prunus Wood (1700–1899) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
The gnarled and twisted form of a prunus stump is carved to accentuate its naturally textured surface. The body is finely polished to create a lustrous patina. Simple wood carvings like this exemplify the Chinese scholars’ taste for natural forms and rustic materials, which in turn reflect the desire to retreat into nature. They were collected and displayed as decorative works of art in the traditional scholars’ studios.
Object facts
- Title: Prunus Wood
- Date: 1700–1899
- Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
- Type: Wood
- Technique: wood carving
- Dimensions: Overall: 48.3 cm (19 in.)
- Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
- Department: Chinese Art
- Accession number: 2015.66
Collection credit
Alma Kroeger Fund
Further reading listed by the museum
- Williams, Marjorie. Chinese Painting--an Escape from the "Dusty" World. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
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.
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