Painted Deer Horn Tomb Beast

[Painted Deer Horn Tomb Beast]

Painted Deer Horn Tomb Beast has a height of 110 cm, a head height of 69 cm, and a base of 32-19 cm
The tomb animal in this town was unearthed in the Warring States Chu Tomb, No. 1, Jiangling Tengdian, Jingzhou. It was made of wood, with a single animal head inserted on the seat, a long tongue with vermilion paint at the mouth, two protruding eyes, and two antlers inserted on the animal head. The whole body is painted with black paint, the square seat is painted with red and white animal face patterns, and the animal body is painted with red S-shaped cirrus patterns and diamond patterns
Tomb animal is a common burial utensil in Chu tombs, and also one of the unique shapes of Chu lacquerware. This kind of utensil is abstract in shape, strange in conception, horrible and grotesque in image, and has strong mysterious meaning and strong color of witchcraft myth. The basic form of the tomb animal is composed of three parts: deer horn, animal head and square base. The antler is inserted into the hole on the top of the animal head, and the animal body is inserted into the square hole on the base, mostly in the shape of long neck, bulging eyes, and long tongue at the mouth. Its shapes include single head, double head, deformed dragon face, deformed human face, etc., most of which are single head and a few are double head. From the comparison of the unearthed tomb animals, we can see the development and evolution rule from early to late stage, which is roughly that the animal face gradually changes to human face, the tongue less gradually changes to long tongue, the neck less gradually changes to long neck, and the animal face changes from color painting to sculpture. This kind of tomb animal is a rare and special thing in the tombs of the Warring States except the Chu tombs. It has distinctive regional characteristics and era characteristics. It was found in the Chu tombs in the early Warring States period, but its number is very small. In the middle period of the Warring States period when the Chu lacquerware was developed, the number of tomb animal was the largest, and it was very rare in the late Warring States period. This change in quantity should be consistent with the development trend of lacquerware at that time and the history of the rise and fall of the State of Chu. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, such implements gradually disappeared.