J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Two Thousand Years of Chinese Sculpture
March 17-29, 2008
17.
A PAIR OF MARBLE GUARDIAN BEASTS
Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)
with plump feline bodies and long forked tails ending in triple-scrolls curled onto opposite flanks, one beast facing to the left and the other facing to the right in the same fierce posture, crouching with claws exposed and feet firmly set on a thick rectangular base, each with chest thrust forward staring intently with bulging eyes under bushy eyebrows, the pointed ears pinned back close to the head, the blunt snout raised, and the lips curved back to reveal clenched teeth and two pairs of pointed fangs, with a narrow mane of straight hair extending from the top of the head onto the thick neck, the body otherwise plain and contoured to suggest the tense muscles of the beasts, the micaceous stone with weathered surface.
Length 14 1⁄2 inches and 15 inches (36.8 cm and 38.1 cm)
A pair of similar stone feline guardian beasts crouching on platform bases are illustrated by Mueller in the catalogue of The Sunglin Collection of Chinese Art and Archaeology, New York, 1930, p. 81, no. H-604, with description on p. 32.
Compare also the large stone seated figure of a feline guardian beast from the collection of Baron von der Heydt, now in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, illustrated by Siren in Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection, Zurich, 1959, pp. 38-39.
唐 石瑞獸 長 36.8 及 38.1 厘米
