Cleveland Museum of Art

Mortuary Figure of the Zodiac Sign: Dog (Aquarius)

Date: 500s
Medium: gray earthenware with traces of slip
Culture: China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
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. This set of mortuary figures was donated by the first woman president of the Cleveland Museum of Art's board of trustees, Emery May Holden Norweb.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Cleveland Museum of Art

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.