Cleveland Museum of Art

Bowl with Carved Lotus Design

Date

1100s–1300s

Medium

Stoneware with pale green (celadon) glaze

Culture

China, Southern Song (1127–1279) to Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This pale green–glazed bowl is decorated with a medallion at the center and a lotus motif on the inside and outside walls. China’s increasingly prosperous ceramic industry began exporting green stoneware during the Tang dynasty (618–906) as far as North Africa. Imitations in Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are evidence of its popularity and enormous success as export ware. In Chinese Buddhist culture, the lotus flower symbolizes good fortune and the process of achieving spiritual enlightenment.

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