Cleveland Museum of Art

Crane

Date

early to mid-1900s

Medium

bronze

Culture

Japan, Taishō period (1912–26) to Shōwa period (1926–89)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This crane stands in water swirling around its feet, suggesting that it may have been intended for an interior setting without real water. Cranes symbolize longevity in East Asia, where they are said to live a thousand years. Representations of cranes are found across the centuries in cast metal form in Japanese religious settings. They are depicted as surface motifs on sacred objects, such as ritual mirrors, or as crane-shaped ornaments or incense burners. In the modern era, metal animals were made as sculptural works of art or as decorative objects for gardens.

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