Tomb Guardian with Animal Head (early 700s): Art, History and Details

Tomb Guardian with Animal Head (early 700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the 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.

Object facts

• Title: Tomb Guardian with Animal Head
• Date: early 700s
• Culture: China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware
• Dimensions: Overall: 92.3 x 43.8 x 41.9 cm (36 5/16 x 17 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2000.118.1

A detail from the museum

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.

Collection credit

Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange)

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Tomb Guardian Pair from Tang Dynasty Acquired by CMA,” December 12, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
• “A Selection of 2001 Museum Acquisitions.” Apollo: The International Magazine of Art & Antiques 154 (December 2001): 24–57.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.