TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

A number of examples of stone and ceramic lions, a potent symbol of the majesty and strength of the Tang, have survived. It has been suggested that the present example may originate from Dingzhou, Hebei Province. Cf. another marble sculpture of a lion in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, illustrated in the Handbook of the Collection, vol. 2, p. 38, and by John Hay, Masterpieces of Chinese Art, pl. 2. Another similar lion is illustrated by Shen Zhiyu, ed., The Shanghai Museum of Art, no. 174. A limestone lion head with a similar expression was included by Eskenazi in his exhibition Ancient Chinese Sculpture, 1978, Catalogue, no. 23.