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Tomb guardian with leonine head
Tang dynasty (618–907), 7th century
Baked clay with pigments
H. 29 1/2 in. (75 cm)
Excavated from Tomb 216, Astana, Turfan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 1972
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum
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The brilliant paintings on the bodies and the clawed feet help distinguish Tang-period tomb guardians from examples produced in the late fifth and sixth century, which generally have hooves. The speckled pattern covering the body may derive from wax-resist techniques long popular in textile manufacture. This guardian was most likely once part of a standard group of four, two human and two bestial, placed in the tomb to protect the inhabitants. It has a tail that curls under the rump and around the front of the body to the left. The mane that surrounds the head, the long beard, the tufts of hair on the lower legs, and the broad tail typify the fantastic rendering of these beasts that developed in the seventh and eighth centuries. The spikes at the top of the head and along the back have their roots in sixth-century depictions of guardian creatures found in the Central Plain region of China. It seems likely that such beasts were introduced to the Turfan area after the Tang conquest of the Gaochang Kingdom in 640. Since Chinese control of the region lasted into the mid-eighth century, there are numerous parallels between art in the urban areas of China and of Turfan.
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