The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

Tomb Guardian with Animal Head

Tomb Guardian with Animal Head

early 700s
(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.)
Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange) 2000.118.1
Location: 239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork

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’s occupant.

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.
  • ?-2000
    (Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2000-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Tomb Guardian Pair from Tang Dynasty Acquired by CMA,” December 12, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: cat. no. 79, p. 74- 75; Mentioned: p. 119
    “A Selection of 2001 Museum Acquisitions.” Apollo: The International Magazine of Art & Antiques 154 (December 2001): 24–57. p. 27
    Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 74-75
    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. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 95
  • {{cite web|title=Tomb Guardian with Animal Head|url=false|author=|year=early 700s|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2000.118.1