id: 161427 accession number: 2000.118.1 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.118.1 updated: 2022-01-04 17:28:27.357000 Tomb Guardian with Animal Head, 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 title: Tomb Guardian with Animal Head title in original language: 鎮墓獸 series: series in original language: creation date: early 700s creation date earliest: 700 creation date latest: 725 current location: 239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork creditline: Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange) copyright: --- culture: China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty (618-907) technique: glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware department: Chinese Art collection: China - Tang Dynasty type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 92.3 x 43.8 x 41.9 cm (36 5/16 x 17 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-2000 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2000- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Sancai (three-color) glazes in green, amber, and transparent white, plus expensive cobalt blue glaze, show the high social status of the tomb’s occupant. digital description: wall 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, “Tomb Guardian Pair from Tang Dynasty Acquired by CMA,” December 12, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr4361 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- 75; Mentioned: p. 119 url: “A Selection of 2001 Museum Acquisitions.” Apollo: The International Magazine of Art & Antiques 154 (December 2001): 24–57. page number: p. 27 url: Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: Reproduced: pp. 74-75 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.118.1/2000.118.1_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.118.1/2000.118.1_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.118.1/2000.118.1_full.tif