Basin with Inscribed Figures and Calligraphy

Description

This bronze basin may have been used for containing purified water. What makes this work charming is its intricate decoration done in silver inlay: the five-character, four-line poems interspersed among images of a child. The poems, which evoke the concept of nonattachment and nonduality, were written by Buddhist monks.

Provenance

(London Gallery, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1985); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1985–)

Basin with Inscribed Figures and Calligraphy

[]

1100s–1200s

Accession Number

1985.112

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

Overall: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); Diameter of mouth with rim: 21.7 cm (8 9/16 in.)

Classification

Metalwork

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund