Cleveland Museum of Art
Mortuary Figures of the Zodiac Signs
- Date
- 500s
- Medium
- gray earthenware with traces of slip
- Culture
- China, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 CE)
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
The twelve-animal zodiac series—rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar—signifies a traditional Chinese concept of time structured in a cyclical order. The twelve animals are also linked to the art of fortune-telling that underlies human existence in connection with the changes of the universe. The use of the twelve zodiac animals as tomb furniture suggests they provided a cosmological structure for the afterlife. These earthenware mortuary figures appear to have been made in molds.
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