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Ru ware is the rarest and most celebrated of all Chinese imperial wares. It was made for the late Northern Song court for a very short time and was therefore extremely rare and precious. Simplicity and refined elegance are Ru ware's hallmarks. Its graceful shape, soft luster, and subtle color variation of the glaze interact in perfect unity. Other physical characteristics include an ash-grey body, soft greyblue glaze with a fine crackle, as well as small sesame-seed spur marks on the base.
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- photo
- Media ID
- acb0c976c501fd29
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- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 134843
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "134843",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Brush Washer",
"description": "Ru ware is the rarest and most celebrated of all Chinese imperial wares. It was made for the late Northern Song court for a very short time and was therefore extremely rare and precious. Simplicity and refined elegance are Ru ware's hallmarks. Its graceful shape, soft luster, and subtle color variation of the glaze interact in perfect unity. Other physical characteristics include an ash-grey body, soft greyblue glaze with a fine crackle, as well as small sesame-seed spur marks on the base.",
"date": "late 1000s–1127",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1957.40",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q60741498"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Ceramic"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 12.8 cm (5 1/16 in.); Overall: 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in.)",
"cul": [
"China, Henan Province, Baofeng, Qingliangsi, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)"
],
"accession": "1957.4"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "134843",
"label": "Brush Washer",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "134843",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Brush Washer",
"description": "Ru ware is the rarest and most celebrated of all Chinese imperial wares. It was made for the late Northern Song court for a very short time and was therefore extremely rare and precious. Simplicity and refined elegance are Ru ware's hallmarks. Its graceful shape, soft luster, and subtle color variation of the glaze interact in perfect unity. Other physical characteristics include an ash-grey body, soft greyblue glaze with a fine crackle, as well as small sesame-seed spur marks on the base.",
"date": "late 1000s–1127",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1957.40",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q60741498"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Ceramic"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 12.8 cm (5 1/16 in.); Overall: 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in.)",
"cul": [
"China, Henan Province, Baofeng, Qingliangsi, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)"
],
"accession": "1957.4"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "porcelaneous stoneware, Ru ware",
"tombstone": "Brush Washer (汝瓷筆洗盤), late 1000s–1127. China, Henan Province, Baofeng, Qingliangsi, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Porcelaneous stoneware, Ru ware; diameter: 12.8 cm (5 1/16 in.); overall: 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1957.40",
"titleInOriginalLanguage": "汝瓷筆洗盤",
"collection": "China - Song Dynasty",
"didYouKnow": "The little black spot in the glaze inside the dish is one of the slight imperfections characteristic of genuine Ru ware.",
"citations": [
{
"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. 843",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n148"
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. <em>A History of Far Eastern Art</em>. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 36, p. 340"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 256",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n280"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 256",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n280"
},
{
"citation": "Valenstein, Suzanne G. <em>A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 75, fig. 30"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 338",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n358"
},
{
"citation": "Tichane, Robert.<em> Those Celadon Blues</em>. Painted Post, NY: New York State Institute for Glaze Research, 1978.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 3.14, p. 27."
},
{
"citation": "Kleinhenz, Henry J. \"Porcelains for Imperial Use: The Sung Dynasty.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 65, no. 4 (1978): 135–150h.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 140, fig. 6, a",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159578"
},
{
"citation": "Ball, Victoria Kloss. <em>Architecture and Interior Design</em>. New York: Wiley, 1980.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 5.62, p. 204"
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. <em>A History of Far Eastern Art</em>. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1982.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 369; Reproduced: p. 340, color pl. 36"
},
{
"citation": "Neils, Jenifer. <em>The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 106, p. 102"
},
{
"citation": "Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan 國立故宮博物院 . <em>Hai wai yi zhen: taoci</em> [海外遺珎. 陶瓷 = Chinese art in overseas collections, pottery & porcelain]. Zhonghua min guo Taibei Shi Shilin qu 中華民國台北市士林區: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1986.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 102, p. 102"
},
{
"citation": "Mowry, Robert D. \"Koryo Celadons.\" <em>Orientations</em> vol. 17, no. 5 (May 1986), pp. 24–39.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: fig. 11, p. 32"
},
{
"citation": "Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 54–55"
},
{
"citation": "Chung, Anita. \"A Connoisseur's Eye, A Scholar's Mind: The Legacy of Sherman Lee.\" <em>Orientations </em>vol. 40, no. 5 (2009).",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32, fig. 6"
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 90–91"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 98–99"
},
{
"citation": "“A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8–33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 31",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 33"
},
{
"citation": "Giuffrida, Noelle. <em>Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America</em>. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 123, fig. 70"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1957.40",
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:53:18.616000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 134843,
"dept": "Chinese Art",
"coll": "China - Song Dynasty",
"med": "porcelaneous stoneware, Ru ware",
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
{
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"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1957.40/1957.40_web.jpg",
"mediaId": "acb0c976c501fd29"
}