Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Alms bowls used by Buddhist monks to receive donations have traditionally been made of iron or wood. This bowl, made of gilt bronze and decorated with incised designs of birds and flowers in roundels as well as butterflies, is instead a luxury item likely meant for a Buddhist altar, where it would have contained offerings for a Buddhist deity.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
126726
label
Alms Bowl
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
126726
contentType
object
title
Alms Bowl
description
Alms bowls used by Buddhist monks to receive donations have traditionally been made of iron or wood. This bowl, made of gilt bronze and decorated with incised designs of birds and flowers in roundels as well as butterflies, is instead a luxury item likely meant for a Buddhist altar, where it would have contained offerings for a Buddhist deity.
date
c. 900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79906293
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 12.8 x 23.8 cm (5 1/16 x 9 3/8 in.)
cul
Japan, Heian period (794–1185)
accession
1949.156
Source extras
tec
gilt bronze
tombstone
Alms Bowl, c. 900s. Japan, Heian period (794–1185). Gilt bronze; overall: 12.8 x 23.8 cm (5 1/16 x 9 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1949.156
collection
Japanese Art
citations
citation
Milliken, William M. “Important Acquisitions of Japanese Art.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 38, no. 9, 1951, pp. 211–217.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 212
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 904
citation
Lee, Sherman E. <em>Japanese Decorative Style</em>. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19
citation
Feddersen, Martin.<em> Japanese Decorative Art, A Handbook for Collectors and Connoisseurs</em>. London: Faber and Faber, 1962.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 76
citation
Rosenfield, John M. <em>Japanese Arts of the Heian Period, 794-1185</em>. [New York]: Asia Society, 1967.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 92 and 123, cat. no. 41
citation
Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: <em>Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 23
citation
Vilbar, Sinéad. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In <em>Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. </em>Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160–197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 180–181, fig. 7.16
citation
“Annual Report of the Year 1958.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 46, no. 6 (June 1959): 111–158.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 114
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:32:15.044000
sourceId
126726
dept
Japanese Art
coll
Japanese Art
med
gilt bronze
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a878c30f1c03331c