The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

An earthenware sculpture, glazed in colors of green, orange, blue, and cream, of a mythical beast with a blue, human face and hooves, seated on its hind legs. It bares its teeth, eyes bulging, ears almost as big as its head, and hair sticking straight up in fire-like orange-brown tendrils. A horn spikes upwards from its head and further spikes from its shoulders and the ridge of its back.

Tomb Guardian with Human Face

early 700s

China, probably Shaanxi province, Xi'an, Tang dynasty

(618-907)
glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware
Overall: 88.9 x 41 x 50.8 cm (35 x 16 1/8 x 20 in.)
Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange) 2000.118.2
Location: 239 Chinese Ceramics and Metalwork

Did You Know?

Cobalt blue glaze used on the head and chest was imported from the Middle East.

Description

With their fierce expressions and exaggerated physical features, these two 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 sports a human face with huge protruding ears and a short horn surrounded by fiery, twisting hair; the other has an animal face and a pair of antlers growing above its eyebrows. 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, pp. 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
    von Spee, Clarissa. "Good or Evil? Demons, ghosts, and goblins in Chinese art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2024): 10–11. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 10 archive.org
  • Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 8, 2024-January 20, 2025).
  • {{cite web|title=Tomb Guardian with Human Face|url=false|author=|year=early 700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2000.118.2