Covered Bowl

CultureChinese

DateWarring States period (480-221 B.C.E.)

MediumPottery coated and inlaid with glass

DimensionsOverall: 4 1/2 × 5 inches (11.43 × 12.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number34-157 A,B

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionRound bowl with diced pattern interspersed with circles in blue and brown on white.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Burlington House, London, United Kingdom, 1935-36, no. 118.

East Asiatic Glass, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, October 3-31, 1948.

Gallery Label

As glass beads gained popularity during the Warring States period, they began to be inlaid into other objects as decoration. Usually they decorated more expensive materials such as bronze, but this piece is a rare example of their use to embellish humble ceramic, thereby raising its status. Originally the glass would have been a smooth and glossy dark blue, but during more than 2,000 years of burial it has degraded and turned a pale turquoise.

Provenance

With Dr. Otto Burchard, Beijing, until 1934;

Purchased from Otto Burchard by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934, through Lawrence Sickman.

Published References

Dorothy Blair, “An Exhibition of Ancient Asiatic Glass”, Artibus Asiae, vol. 11, no. 3, 1948, 199 (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949): 131 (repro.).

Mizuno Seiichi, ed., Sekai tōji zenshū, vol. 8: Chūgoku jōdai hen, (Tokyo: Kawade shobō shinsha, 1956): pl. 8 (repro.).

Yamato Bunkakan, Yamato Bunka, (Nara: Yamato bunkakan, 1954) September, no. 15, pl. 1 (repro.).

Thomas Dexel, Die Formen chinesischer Keramik die Entwicklung der keramischen Hauptfomen com Neolithikum bis ins 18. Jahrhundert, (Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, 1955), pl. 26a. (Repro.).

Sugimura Yūzō, Chūgoku no bijutsu, (Tokyo: Sōgensha, 1958), 81 (repro.).

Capolavori nei secoli: encyclopedia di tutti le arti, di tutti i popoli, in tutti i tempi., (Milano: Fratelli Fabrbri, 1962): 23, no. 25 (repro.).

Sherman Lee, History of Far Eastern Art (New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964): 50, fig. 48 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993): 284.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.