A PAIR OF SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY 'EARTH SPIRITS' Tang dynasty

A PAIR OF SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY 'EARTH SPIRITS'
Tang dynasty
Seated with hoofs firmly planted on the rock work base, both with ferocious open mouth and large round eyes, one beast with a tall flame-like mane rising from top of the head between a pair of antlers, the sideburns flaring and framing the face, a pair of wings at the shoulders, the other human-face beast with a spiraled horn and large ears, the head unglazed and finely modeled, with a pair of wings at the shoulders, both figures splashed with green, amber, and cream glaze.
33 3/4in (86cm) high and 32 1/8in (81.8cm) high
Footnotes:
唐 三彩陶塑鎮墓獸二件

Provenance:
The Antique Box, Hong Kong, 2003
Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Jun Villones, Baltimore

來源：
香港硯香樓，2003年
巴爾的摩Jun Villones伉儷藏

'Earth Sprits' are guardians of the tomb, usually placed at both sides of the entrance and accompanied by a pair of Lokapala, a pair of crowned officials, two horses, two camels, and three grooms. A pair of sancai-glazed 'earth spirits' in the collection of the British Museum is illustrated by Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, 1992, p. 145, fig. 93, described as originally belonged to a group of thirteen tomb figures.