Collection record · Objects & craft
Chest for Storing Garments
The collection record classifies this work as lacquer. It is dated 1400s. Recorded culture or place: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Chest for Storing Garments
- Date
- 1400s
- Culture / origin
- China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Materials and technique
- lacquered wood with mother-of-pearl inlay
- Dimensions
- Overall: 43 x 56 x 54.7 cm (16 15/16 x 22 1/16 x 21 9/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1975.10
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This precious lacquer box is decorated with bird and plant motifs and figures in mother-of-pearl inlay. The decoration depicts the leisurely pursuit of scholars in nature and a garden setting. Scholars play the board game weiqi, have philosophical conversations, pluck a qin (a zither-like instrument with strings), and read books.
Lacquer chests of this type were used to store garments neatly folded along their straight seams. The mother-of-pearl inlay from shells is a technique that was typically practiced by craftsmen in Hangzhou and other parts of southeast China near the sea.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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