Recumbent Bull
Peut-on la contempler ?
Elle ne reçoit pas en ce moment
Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, États-Unis
Elle appartient à la collection, mais n’est pas présentée en ce moment.
- Vérifié
- avant-hier
- Dans cet état depuis
- 19 août 2026
- Source
- Les données de collection du musée lui-même
About the sculpture
In China, access to political power was granted to those who passed the civil service examinations, a system that offered official service only at a high level of education. Chinese literati-officials whose daily routine was administrative work in an office, enjoyed precious objects on their writing table that offered distraction and demonstrated good taste, as well as the pleasure of holding and handling them. By the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, these utensils of the literati studio also became collectibles and were treasured as artworks.
Read on
Made of solid gilt-bronze, this paperweight in the form of a recumbent bull was meant to be placed on a scholar’s desk. Oxen were precious livestock as they could pull carts and plows. Often depicted in landscape paintings and in pictures of tilling the spring soil, the bull’s nature was traditionally likened to the willingness of a loyal civil servant who bears the burden of hard labor without complaint.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Notice
- Numéro d’inventaire
- 1985.74
Au catalogue
Sources
- Cleveland Museum of Art: the museum's own open data · obtenue il y a 6 jours
- Image : Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
