Album with Views of Rome and Surroundings, Landscape Studies, page 36b: Cloud Study | Cleveland Museum of Art

Water Jar (Olla) with Rainbird | Cleveland Museum of Art

Zuni (A:shiwi) women used ollas (<em>oy-</em>ahs) like this one to collect, carry, and store water. The water well was a place for socializing, and the vessels’ public visibility may help to explain their elaborate, deftly painted decoration—here an abstract creature called the Rainbird whose beak spirals between two stylized, stepped wings that may allude to moisture-bearing clouds. Milford Nahohai, the contemporary Zuni potter, believes the motif is inspired by rain clouds that roll into the Zuni River Valley, their leading edges curled under the main mass to form a curve like that of the beak.

Dragon and Tiger | Cleveland Museum of Art

In Chinese cosmology, the tiger's roar is said to produce wind. In Chinese paintings, the tiger is often shown with a dragon, who creates rain clouds. Together, they represent the balancing forces of the universe. Chinese presentations of the theme, often in hanging scroll format, provided the basic composition for the pair of screens to which this one belongs.

Rain-coming Pavilion by the Stone Bridge at Mt. Tiantai | Cleveland Museum of Art

The subject is not just Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang Province, the ancient seat of the most powerful Buddhist sect of Sui and Tang dynasties, but records a specific occasion in 1838 when an official visited Tiantai and began the reconstruction of a historic pavilion. As this coincided with the end of a long drought, the building was auspiciously renamed the Yulai (Rain-Coming 雨來) Pavilion. Ten years later, Dai Xi painted this handscroll to commemorate the occasion.

Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang | Cleveland Museum of Art

<em>Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers</em> can be traced to 11th-century Chinese poems and paintings, the depiction of which had also become popular among Korean and Japanese painters. Xiao-Xiang refers to the region in present-day Hunan province where the Xiao and Xiang rivers converge. Few painters of the <em>Eight Views</em> had in fact seen the scenery; rather, they were trying to portray in ink and wash the lyrical qualities of dim light and a misty atmosphere typical of that region. Each of the poetic titles suggests a time of day, a season, or specific atmospheric conditions—subjects that challenged the abilities of the most talented artists. <br><br>In this miniature painting (<em>shukuzu</em>) of the Muromachi period, Japanese Zen monk and painter Shukei Sesson depicted all eight views featured in Chinese prototypes: Wild Geese Descending to Sandbar; Returning Sails Off a Distant Coast; Mountain Market in Clearing Mist; River and Sky in Evening Snow; Autumn Moon over Dongting Lake; Night Rain on the Xiao and Xiang; Evening Bell from Mist-Shrouded Temple; and Fishing Village in Evening Glow.

Standing Cup | Cleveland Museum of Art

Produced during the last years of the Tudor dynasty (1485–1603), this vessel exemplifies the symmetrical patterns, horizontal designs, and clear division of space typical of English silverwork at the time. The functional shape and ornamental designs characteristic of standing cups made them ideal for ceremonial occasions.

Deer Effigy Vessel | Cleveland Museum of Art

Maya artwork from the Early Classic Period (about AD 250-600) is dominated by three-dimensional sculpture in jade, stone, wood, and especially ceramic. This vessel is an exceptionally elegant example of Maya blackware, produced by firing earthenware pottery in a reducing (low oxygen) atmosphere. The deer is frequently depicted in Maya art, usually as a victim of either hunting or sacrifice. Venus signs and conch shells engraved on the deer also suggest death, for the planet Venus was regarded as a bringer of ill-fortune, and conch shell trumpets were carried by hunters. The small frog or toad pressed firmly under the deer's hoof relates to agricultural fertility. The croaking of these amphibians was a harbinger of rain.

Trefoil Knots from Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji | Cleveland Museum of Art

This album contains illustrations for the classic literary work the <em>Tale of Genji,</em> authored in the 1000s by Murasaki Shikibu, an aristocrat of the Heian period (794–1185) court. The scenes are painted in the “white drawing” (<em>hakubyō</em>) mode, in which a fine ink line is used to depict figures and spaces with great subtlety, punctuated only occasionally by traces of red pigment for a character’s lips, a detail of a garment, or a decorative element. These two scenes illustrate episodes from the chapters “Thin Veil of Cloud” (Usugumo) and “Barrier Gate” (Sekiya).

Parisian Service (Haviland service): Rain (no. 10) | Cleveland Museum of Art