{
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"tombstone": "Tomb Guardian with Animal Head (\u93ae\u5893\u7378), early 700s. China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty (618-907). Glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware; overall: 92.3 x 43.8 x 41.9 cm (36 5/16 x 17 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange), 2000.118.1",
"current_location": "239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork",
"title": "Tomb Guardian with Animal Head",
"title_in_original_language": "\u93ae\u5893\u7378",
"creation_date": "early 700s",
"creation_date_earliest": 700,
"creation_date_latest": 725,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty (618-907)"
],
"technique": "glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Chinese Art",
"collection": "China - Tang Dynasty",
"type": "Ceramic",
"measurements": "Overall: 92.3 x 43.8 x 41.9 cm (36 5/16 x 17 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.923,
"height_inch": 36,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.3125,
"width": 0.438,
"width_inch": 17,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"depth": 0.419,
"depth_inch": 16,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 666891,
"title": "Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art",
"description": "Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 8, 2024-January 20, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-09-08T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-2000",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
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"date": "2000-",
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"did_you_know": "Sancai (three-color) glazes in green, amber, and transparent white, plus expensive cobalt blue glaze, show the high social status of the tomb\u2019s occupant.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "With their fierce expressions and exaggerated physical features, fantastic guardian creatures were intended to guard the entrance to a tomb, warding off evil as well as keeping the soul of the deceased from wandering. Known as \"earth spirits\" or qitou, this one has an animal face and a pair of antlers growing above its eyebrows; the other sports a human face with huge protruding ears and a short horn surrounded by fiery, twisting hair. Their many elongated spikes heighten the fearful intensity.
Before tomb sculptures were placed in the tomb, they were carried through the streets in a funerary procession. Funerary gifts provided the deceased with means for the afterlife. They were also an expression of filial piety and demonstrated the wealth and power of the descendants.",
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"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cTomb Guardian Pair from Tang Dynasty Acquired by CMA,\u201d December 12, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4361"
},
{
"citation": "May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. no. 79, p. 74\u201375; Mentioned: p. 119",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "\u201cA Selection of 2001 Museum Acquisitions.\u201d Apollo: The International Magazine of Art & Antiques 154 (December 2001): 24\u201357.",
"page_number": "p. 27",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pp. 74\u201375",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bidwell, Frederick E. and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art; New York, NY: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 95",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "von Spee, Clarissa. \"Good or Evil? Demons, ghosts, and goblins in Chinese art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 64, no. 3 (2024): 10\u201311.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 10",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM-2024-03"
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"gallery_donor_text": "Clara T. Rankin Galleries of Chinese Art",
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:23:52.255000"
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