Guardian animal – guardian of the tomb

Iconography of imaginary guardian animals in Chinese ancestral cult was settled in the Tang period. The entrance to a funerary chamber in the Tang tomb was usually guarded by a pair of such animals with awesome faces and gestures; one of them had an anthropomorphic face while the other had a lion’s head with horns. The most luxurious specimens were further decorated with the three-colour glaze, the technical highlight of Tang ritual sculpture.