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Source Description
The figure watching the stars is believed to be the messenger Zhang Qian (died 114 BCE). Legend says he lost his way in the Milky Way, where he met the Weaving Maid who gave him a stone from her loom. Zhang, in fact, holds a slab inscribed <em>loom stone</em>. The vessel is dated, inscribed, and has a seal of the silversmith Zhu Bishan, from Zhejiang province, who ran a workshop in the Lake Tai area near Suzhou. Zhu is one of the few Chinese silversmiths known by name, producing silverware so desirable that his name was used like a trademark by his competitors and followers. Made of pure silver, and shaped like a hollow log, the cup was assembled from several silver pieces that were then soldered together.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
149146
label
Raft Cup
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
149146
contentType
object
title
Raft Cup
description
The figure watching the stars is believed to be the messenger Zhang Qian (died 114 BCE). Legend says he lost his way in the Milky Way, where he met the Weaving Maid who gave him a stone from her loom. Zhang, in fact, holds a slab inscribed <em>loom stone</em>. The vessel is dated, inscribed, and has a seal of the silversmith Zhu Bishan, from Zhejiang province, who ran a workshop in the Lake Tai area near Suzhou. Zhu is one of the few Chinese silversmiths known by name, producing silverware so desirable that his name was used like a trademark by his competitors and followers. Made of pure silver, and shaped like a hollow log, the cup was assembled from several silver pieces that were then soldered together.
date
1300s–1400s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60780889
creators
22729
genreSpecific
Silver
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 16 cm (6 5/16 in.)
cul
China, Yuan (1271-1368) or early Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
accession
1977.7
Source extras
tec
hammered silver soldered together, with chased decoration
tombstone
Raft Cup (銀槎杯), 1300s–1400s. Attributed to Zhu Bishan (Chinese, c. 1300–after 1362). Hammered silver soldered together, with chased decoration; overall: 16 cm (6 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1977.7
titleInOriginalLanguage
銀槎杯
collection
China - Yuan Dynasty
inscriptions
inscription
signed 碧山 and dated 乙酉年 (1345)
sortorder
1
inscription
The inscription in seal script style (zhuanshu) reads:
Raft cup, made in the yiyou year of Zhizheng [1345], Whoso wishes to reach the Milky Way is obstructed by the sky; Once there was a man, restless and valiant, who penetrated into the silver sea. Alas! Why did he not seek for some embroidery from the celestial loom? He only brought back in his arms a slab of stone used to prop up the loom.
sortorder
2
didYouKnow
The traditional understanding of the silver vessel 's function is that it was supposed to hold wine.
citations
citation
Hobson, R. L. “A Silver Cup of the Yüan Dynasty.” <em>The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs</em>, vol. 22, no. 117 (December 1912), pp. 153–158.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 153–158; Reproduced: plate B
citation
Koop, Albert J. and Burlington Fine Arts Club. <em>Catalogue of a Collection of Objects of Chinese Art</em>. London: Priv. Print. for the Burlington fine arts club, 1915.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 55, plate IX
citation
Spendlove, F. St. George, ed. C<em>atalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-6</em>. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1935.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 1034, pp. 81 and 100
citation
<em> La découverte de l'Asie. [Exposition] hommage à René Grousset</em>. Paris: Musée Cernuschi, 1954.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 447, plate 28
citation
Cheng Chen-to. "Chu Pi-shang lung-ch'o chi," (The Dragon Rafts by Chu Pi-shang). <em>Gu gong bo wu yuan yuan kan</em> 故宮博物院院刊 (Beijing 1960), II, pp.165–169.
page_number
II, pp. 165–169
citation
Jenyns, Soame, and William Watson. <em>Chinese Art: The Minor Arts</em>. New York: Universe Books, 1963.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 35, p. 78
citation
Beurdeley, Michel.<em> The Chinese Collector Through the Centuries, from the Han to the 20th Century</em>. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 109, fig. 51
citation
Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. <em>Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368</em>. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 37
citation
<em>Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities</em>, 43, 1971, pl. 3
page_number
pl. 3
citation
Cao, Zhao, and Percival David. <em>Chinese Connoisseurship: The Ko Ku Yao Lun, the Essential Criteria of Antiquities</em>. London: Faber, 1971.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 19c
citation
Sotheby's London.<em> Early Chinese Ceramics; Sung, Ming and Ch'ing Wares; Lacquer; Works of Art</em>. December 14, 1976. Lot 224.
citation
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1977." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 65, no. 1 (1978): 2–42.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 128, p. 33
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. 344
citation
Little, Stephen. <em>Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China : the Cleveland Museum of Art, February 10-April 10, 1988</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 19
citation
Wilson, J. Keith. "The Fine Art of Drinking: The Chinese Silversmith Zhu Bishan and His Sculptural Cups." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 81, no. 10 (1994): 380-401.
page_number
Reproduced: cover, pp. 380–381; Mentioned: pp. 380–401
citation
Christman, Bruce. “Technical Note on the Raft Cup.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 81, no. 10 (December 1994): 402–407.
citation
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 74–75
citation
Chapman, Jan. <em>The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China</em> [中囯的犀牛角雕刻兿術 = Chung-Kuo Ti Hsi Niu Chiao Tiao Kʻo I Shu]. London: Christie's Books, 1999.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 263, no. 382 (above)
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. 104–105
citation
Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. <em>China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta</em>. Edited by Clarissa von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 300–301, no. 142
citation
"Exhibitions through February 2024.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>63, no. 4 (2023): 16-17.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 17; Mentioned: P. 16
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
sketchfabId
a254ffe2ee5f4512a034e666b5eee4bd
updatedAt
2026-06-18 21:16:19.745000
sourceId
149146
dept
Chinese Art
coll
China - Yuan Dynasty
med
hammered silver soldered together, with chased decoration
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
9cd3f2aa0366d5b9