Cleveland Museum of Art

Dish with Laozi Riding a Water Buffalo (interior); Pavilion and Immortals in Rocky Landscape (exterior)

Date: 1723–35
Medium: porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng reign (1723-35)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 154733

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Daoism traces its origins to Laozi, a sage believed to have lived in the sixth century BC, who was the reputed author of the Daode jing (Classic of the Way), a fundamental text for Daoism. The interior of this dish depicts the elderly Laozi riding a buffalo. He is accompanied by three servants and is greeted by a scholarlike figure. This dish borrows brush and shading techniques typically employed by artists who paint on paper or silk, a development frequently seen in porcelain decoration around the 1700s.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
Provenance: May 28, 1968: (Sotheby's, London, 28 May 1968, lot no. 123, sold to Severance and Greta Millikin) | 1968–1989: Severance A. [1895–1985] and Greta [Marguerite Steckerl] Millikin [1903–1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1989–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH