PAIR OF LONGQUAN CELADON FUNERARY URNS 青釉贴花龙虎尊 一对

A pair of Longquan porcelain funerary urns with pale green glaze. The pair comprising a tiger modelled on the upper section, a bird and cloud relief on the lid. The other vase having a four-clawed dragon modelled on the upper section, a bird and cloud relief on the lid.

These funerary urns are decorated with two ‘animals of the four directions’, called 'siling 四灵' in Chinese meaning four mythical creatures symbolic of prosperity and longevity. The Tiger of the West and the Dragon of the East. The birds on the covers may allude to the Red Bird of the South; but the symbol of the north, a tortoise is not present. In China, artists decorated coffins and tombs with these creatures from the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) onwards. These urns stored provisions for the afterlife such as grain and are part of local southern burial practice.

青釉贴花龙虎尊 一对

此对龙虎尊器身分饰中国传统四灵中的二灵装饰，即西方白虎及东方青龙。器盖上的鸟可能象征南方朱雀，但北方玄武，即龟的形象却没有体现。中国在汉代之前（西元前206-西元220年），棺椁及墓葬常以这些灵兽作为装饰。此类器物用于储存粮食，如谷物等这是一种具有南方地区风格的葬俗。