Pottery painted terracotta figures

[Terracotta figures painted with pottery]

Terracotta figures painted with pottery, Tang Dynasty, 54 cm high and 20.5 cm wide
The king of heaven wears a crown on his head. The head of the bird on the crown has been lost, the bird’s wings have been expanded, and the tail wings have been raised. The king’s face is narrow and wide, his eyebrows are tight, his eyes are wide, his nose is sharp and his mouth is wide. Wearing bright armor and dragon head protecting the back. The body is slightly “S” shaped, the left leg is upright, the right leg is raised, and the head of the imp is trampled. The body of the little ghost is curly, and there is a mountain seat below. The eyebrows, eyes, whiskers, ear protectors and shoulder protectors of the Terracotta Warriors are painted in ink
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the burial custom of “four gods and twelve hours” was popular. The “twelve hours” was the twelve zodiac signs, and the “four gods” were “Dang Kuang”, “Dang Ye”, “Zuming”, and “Earth Axis” in the literature, that is, the tomb stabilizing king figurines, the tomb stabilizing warrior figurines, the animal face tomb stabilizing animals, and the human face tomb stabilizing animals. The tomb god beast is the god created by the ancients to drive away evil and suppress evil. It appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and is generally the image of a monster. Its materials include wood, paint, copper, etc. The tomb animals of the Han Dynasty mostly appeared on the tomb stone. From the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty, pottery tomb gods and animals were widely used in tombs. At first, most of them were animal faces and animal bodies, and then human faces and animal bodies. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the development of social economy, the trend of thick burial prevailed, and the number and types of tomb gods increased. The Terracotta Warriors of Heaven were born at the time, and they were generally placed at the entrance of the tomb to ward off evil spirits and suppress evil spirits