Caption

Ornament, Chinese art, Chinese culture, Ming 1368–1644, Ming style; bosses, lotuses, headgear, cranes iconography, ornaments. The ornament presents a complex three-dimensional form: a scene by a lotus pond with four cranes standing in natural poses between and beneath densely growing lotuses. The scene was based on an ornament created by thirteenth-century craftsmen during the Yuan era. Mongolian nobility wore wide-brimmed hats with jade bosses on the top; while Ming society moved away from that foreign fashion and abandoned this type of headgear, jade ornaments remained in use and were applied to vessels as decorative elements due to their high material and craft value. Early 17th century, China; clothing, varia. Height 3.65 cm, width 3.2 cm, depth 2.5 cm., A small carved object made of pale off-white material sits on a smooth gray surface against a dark gray to black gradient background; the carving has an openwork design with organic shapes resembling overlapping rounded leaves and curved stems, showing smooth translucent areas and subtle variations of creamy white and light yellow, with soft shadows beneath and around the base.

Credit line

Photo12/Liszt Collection

Reference

LZT26A27_449

License type

Rights managed

Available size

76.9Mb (290.9Kb) / 15.0in x 20.0in / 4490 x 5986 (300dpi)

Keywords

Ornament Chinese art Chinese culture Ming 1368–1644 Ming style bosses lotuses headgear cranes iconography ornaments ornament presents complex three-dimensional form scene lotus pond four cranes standing natural poses beneath densely growing was based ornament created thirteenth-century craftsmen Yuan era Mongolian nobility wore wide-brimmed hats jade bosses top Ming society moved away foreign fashion abandoned type jade ornaments remained applied vessels decorative elements due high material craft value Early 17th century China clothing varia Height 3.65 cm width 3.2 cm depth 2.5 cm small carved object pale off-white material sits smooth gray surface dark gray black gradient background carving openwork design organic shapes resembling overlapping rounded leaves curved stems showing smooth translucent areas subtle variations creamy white light yellow soft shadows beneath base.