A PAIR OF CHINESE SANCAI EARTH SPIRITS . Tang Dynasty. Each formed as a mythical creature with a horned ferocious face, lion paws and wings, decorated with green, white and yellow glaze, together with modern stands, 67 - 75cm high. (4) 唐 三彩鎮墓獸一對連底座 This lot is accompanied by copies of the Thermoluminescence Analysis Reports ref PH037/503 and PH037/504, dated 8 April 2003, consistent with a Tang Dynasty date. Pottery figures of dramatic mythical beasts were created during the 7th and 8th Century China to protect burials at the time. Examples on the scale of the present lot in terms of scale and glazing are exceptional and would have been made to accompany elites of the period into the afterlife.

(67 - 75cm high.)