In Bronze Age China, people and animals were sometimes sacrificed and placed in elite tombs to serve and protect the spirit of the deceased. By the end of the third century BCE, philosophical admonitions against such cruel and wasteful funerary practices led to the increasing use of ceramic figurines as substitutes for sacrificial victims. Sculptures from Qin and Han dynasty tombs tended to depict people—warriors, servants, entertainers—with ethnically Chinese features and attire. Greater contact with foreign peoples began with the opening of trade routes to the West during the Han, however, and by the sixth century, ceramic tomb sculptures depicting foreigners and exotic animals became more common. Foreign merchants and grooms appear in tombs, as do camels. These representations are evidence of the cosmopolitan nature of post-Han society, at least among the elite. Guardian figures and mythical beasts, like the standing male and seated creature exhibited here, were intended to safeguard the tomb and were often depicted with fierce features designed to intimidate.
Although he bears no weapons, this figure’s helmet, cape, and boots suggest that he is a warrior. His bulging eyes, high cheekbones, large nose, heavy beard, and non-Chinese dress imply that he is a foreigner of Central Asian origin. The buck-toothed winged feline seated beside him was probably not made as his companion, but was one of a pair of guardian creatures; the original mate would likely have had a similar feline body with wings and spiked spine, but a human face. First appearing in the early sixth century, such “tomb-protecting animals” were meant to ward off evil; they became standard tomb denizens in succeeding periods.
