Tri-colored glazed hand holding rabbit portrait tile

[Tri-color glazed hand holding rabbit portrait tile]

Tri-color glazed hand holding rabbit portrait tile, Ming Dynasty, tile length 11.5 cm, mouth width 11.5 cm, height 35.5 cm
The tile back is a standing statue of a minister, with his hands crossed and a rabbit in his arms. The word “mao” is carved on the side of the tile body, which is the ground branch corresponding to the rabbit. There are seven different kinds of Chinese zodiac tiles in the Palace Museum, including mouse, ox, snake, horse, sheep, monkey and pig. The characters on the tiles are similar and the animals are different, which can be called Chinese zodiac tiles. It has a long tradition in China to express the twelve zodiac animals by holding the image of the animal head of the zodiac or the animal head of the human zodiac. This tile is a three-color glazed tile from Shanxi. It is different from the traditional royal glazed tile, which usually uses dragons, phoenixes, lions, and seahorses. Instead, it uses the images of officials and ladies. The characters are lifelike and realistic. The clothing patterns and accessories are detailed and lifelike. In terms of type and scale, this glazed tile is a tubular tile, which is used on the roof ridge of the building. The tile is small and high, and its stability is poor. Therefore, this tile is mainly to highlight the artistic effect rather than practicality, which provides us with a new classification of the use of glazed building materials