Chinese
Nine Tripod Cauldrons
九鼎
The legitimacy to rule all under heaven. They rest with dynasties of virtue.
VesselFirst recorded c. 400 BCE
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Photograph: A Chinese hanging scroll of the sixteenth to seventeenth century, Cloud Rock. A strange rock billowing up like a cloud is painted in ink on silk.
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1,074 × 3,000 PX1074×3000
ArchiveChinese · Mount
Somersault Cloud
筋斗雲
One somersault carries him 108,000 li.
- Owner
- Sun Wukong
- Maker
- Taught by his master Subodhi
- First record
- Wu Cheng'en, Journey to the West1592
- Gallery
- Chinese
Notes on the photograph 2
Story
Sun Wukong learned magic from his master Subodhi, including how to ride clouds. Because he mounted a cloud with a tumbling motion instead of the elegance of other immortals, his master taught him the Somersault Cloud to suit him: one flip would carry him 108,000 li.
After causing an uproar in heaven, Sun Wukong made a wager with the Buddha. If he could leap out of the Buddha's palm, heaven would be his.
Sun Wukong flew on the cloud to the end of the world, wrote "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here" on five pillars and came back. But the pillars were the Buddha's five fingers. Sun Wukong was at once imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Cloud Rock(China, 16th–mid-17th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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