Tomb Guardian with Animal Head
early 700s
- Medium
- glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Dimensions
- Overall: 92.3 x 43.8 x 41.9 cm (36 5/16 x 17 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty (618-907)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange)
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
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.
