The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Pair of Leather Bag-Shaped Flasks with Covers

Pair of Leather Bag-Shaped Flasks with Covers

916–1125
Part 1: 24.5 x 16.5 x 16 cm (9 5/8 x 6 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.); Part 2: 23.5 x 17.5 x 13.8 cm (9 1/4 x 6 7/8 x 5 7/16 in.)

Did You Know?

These earthenware vessels are intentionally made to look like leather storage bags with details that resemble stitching around the spout and handle.

Description

Flasks like these derive their shapes from leather bags; even the edges are finely rouletted to resemble the seams of sewn leather. These were used by the nomadic Khitan people who established the Liao kingdom in Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and North China. Such wares represented the Liao adoption of the Tang Chinese ceramic tradition, and yet they expressed ethnic identity and new innovations resulted from the cultural borrowing.
  • ?-2006
    (Uragami Sokyu-do Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to Donna and James Reid)
    April 4, 2006-2012
    Donna [b. 1931] and James Reid [1926-2020], Cleveland Heights, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Uragami, Mitsuru 浦上満. Ryō no tōji [遼の陶磁 = Liao Ceramics]. Tōkyō: Uragami Sōkyūdō, 2005. pp. 8–9
    “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2011-2012.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 63, no. 2, 2013, pp. 215–276. Reproduced: fig. 16, p. 227 www.jstor.org
  • {{cite web|title=Pair of Leather Bag-Shaped Flasks with Covers|url=false|author=|year=916–1125|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2012.448