Tomb Guardian with Human Face
A fierce, horned guardian figure rises from a lobed base, its face scowling with bared teeth beneath a flaming crest. Multicolored lead glazes of green, blue, amber and cream pool and drip over the sculpted musculature, wings and clawed feet.
Look closer: A small seated Buddha figure is modeled on the forehead crest above the scowling face.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- early 700s
- Medium
- glazed earthenware, sancai (three-color) ware
- Source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Size
- 2344 × 3400 px
Public domain · The Cleveland Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 (latest date 725).
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access, share_license_status=CC0)
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access, share_license_status=CC0)
Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange)