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
With a bovine head and four horns, this seated figurine was a powerful ritual and shamanic symbol. Drill holes above its shoulders form two interconnected perforations for suspension, suggesting that the jade was originally used as a pendant, presumably by the shaman performing the tasks of journeying to and communicating with the supernatural realms.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
130939
label
Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
130939
contentType
object
title
Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head
description
With a bovine head and four horns, this seated figurine was a powerful ritual and shamanic symbol. Drill holes above its shoulders form two interconnected perforations for suspension, suggesting that the jade was originally used as a pendant, presumably by the shaman performing the tasks of journeying to and communicating with the supernatural realms.
date
c. 4700–2920 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Jade
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
14.6 x 6 x 4.1 cm (5 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 1 5/8 in.)
cul
Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700–2920 BCE)
accession
1953.628
Source extras
tec
jade (nephrite)
tombstone
Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head (牛首玉人), c. 4700–2920 BCE. Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700–2920 BCE). Jade (nephrite); 14.6 x 6 x 4.1 cm (5 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 1 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Severance A. Millikin, 1953.628
titleInOriginalLanguage
牛首玉人
collection
China - Neolithic
inscriptions
inscription
There are two paper labels on the back of the jade pendant: one partial label with Chinese characters and one with the typed number "150".
sortorder
1
didYouKnow
CMA daringly acquired this masterpiece without knowing exactly what it was. Only after Chinese archaeologists started excavating similar jades in Northeast China could it be attributed to the Hongshan culture.
citations
citation
"Schamenendarstellungen," <em>Asia Major</em> 1, 1 (1944): p. 62.
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “More Early Chinese Jades.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 41, no. 10, 1954, pp. 215–217.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 215-217; Reproduced: fig. 1 (line drawing)
citation
Consten, Eleanor von Erdberg. <em>Das Alte China</em>. Stuttgart: G. Kilpper, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 78, 244; Reproduced: pl. 43
citation
<em>Chinese Jad</em>e. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania [Museum], 1962.
page_number
no. 150
citation
Salmony, Alfred. <em>Chinese Jade; Through the Wei Dynasty</em>. New York: Ronald Press, 1963.
page_number
pp. 218–219, 227, pl. 35:4
citation
Chêng Tê-K'un. “Some Standing Jade Figurines of the Shang-Chou Period.” <em>Artibus Asiae</em>, vol. 28, no. 1, 1966, pp. 39–52.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 48–49; Reproduced: fig. 10
url
www.jstor.org/stable/3249315
citation
Hansford, S. Howard.<em> Chinese Carved Jades</em>. London: Faber, 1968.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 83–85, pl. 56
citation
Froncek, Thomas, and Hugh Honour. <em>The Horizon Book of the Arts of China</em>. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co, 1969.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 69
citation
Erickson, Ernest, Jan Wirgin, and Ulf Abel. <em>The Ernest Erickson collection in Swedish museums</em>. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1989.
page_number
pp. 10–11
citation
Forsyth, Angus. "Five Chinese Jade Figures: Study of the Development of Sculptural Form in Hongshan Neolithic Jade Working." <em>Orientations, </em>21, 5 (1990), pp. 54–63.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 60, figs. 8-8b
citation
Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>81, no. 8 (1994): 270–347.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 275; Mentioned: pp. 275, 277, 346
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. 22–23
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
Reproduced: p. 29, fig. 2
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. 12–13
creditline
Gift of Severance A. Millikin
updatedAt
2026-06-17 11:19:43.841000
sourceId
130939
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Neolithic
med
jade (nephrite)
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
c94b3fd78698ee3e