id: 147053 accession number: 1972.76 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.76 updated: 2023-03-22 14:08:03.706000 Mortuary Figures of the Zodiac Signs, 500s. China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534). Gray earthenware with traces of slip; overall: 22.6 cm (8 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection 1972.76 title: Mortuary Figures of the Zodiac Signs title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 500s creation date earliest: 500 creation date latest: 600 current location: 241B Arts of Ancient China creditline: The Norweb Collection copyright: --- culture: China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534) technique: gray earthenware with traces of slip department: Chinese Art collection: China - Northern Dynasties type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 22.6 cm (8 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture opening date: 1975-09-24T04:00:00 Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975). title: Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia opening date: 1990-07-24T04:00:00 Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 25, 1990). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Mrs. R. Henry [Emery May Holden] Norweb [1895–1984], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1972 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1972– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The twelve-animal zodiac series—rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar—signifies a traditional Chinese concept of time structured in a cyclical order. The twelve animals are also linked to the art of fortunetelling that underlies human existence in connection with the changes of the universe. The use of the twelve zodiac animals as tomb furniture suggests they provided a cosmological structure for the afterlife. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323. page number: Reproduced: p. 305 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297 Delacour, Catherine. La Voie du Tao: Un Autre Chemin de l'Etre: Galeries Nationales, Grand Palais, 29 Mars-5 Juillet, 2010. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux: Musée Guimet, 2010. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 126–127 url: Chung, Anita. Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: July 27, 2013-January 26, 2014, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. page number: Reproduced: pp. 20–21, fig. 4 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.76/1972.76_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.76/1972.76_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.76/1972.76_full.tif