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Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Bowl with griffin's head
Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Bowl with griffin's head

Date4th-3rd century BCE
Label TextFor millennia, the Silk Road connected Mediterranean ports to the Central Asian desert to China, Korea, and Japan. This vast network of caravan trails brought foreign goods, ideas, and customs to China. This bowl’s griffin motif—an exotic image from a western civilization—must have stirred the user’s imagination.
Object number46.95
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, "Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective", December 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009 (12/22/2007 - 7/26/2009) Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.
Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions1 3/4 x 4 x 3 7/8 in. (4.4 x 10.1 x 9.8 cm)
MediumSilver, gilt, turquoise, and stone
Circular box
Nepalese
ca. 1801-1900
Object number: 65.100
Chinese
4th–3rd century BCE
Object number: 49.99
Chinese
4th–3rd century BCE
Object number: 49.101
French
1748 or 1771
Object number: 35.564
Miniature skull-shaped cup
17th-18th century
Object number: 65.96
Photo: Paul Macapia
Chinese
18th century
Object number: 73.5
Belt hook
Chinese
ca. 450-221 B.C.
Object number: 52.58
Drinking bowl with griffin
Persian
Object number: 65.31
Photo: Susan A. Cole
Chinese
late 8th - early 9th century
Object number: 45.61.1
Covered bowl in the shape of a five-petaled flower
Chinese
late 8th to early 9th century
Object number: 45.61.2
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Chinese
early 8th century
Object number: 42.5