Formal Analysis: Tomb Guardian With Human Face

Formal Analysis: Tomb Guardian with Human Face Tomb Guardian with Human Face, a free-standing ancient Chinese sculpture 35 inches tall, half life-size, is now displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Figure 1). The ceramic statue is adorned with a white crown and a glorious jewel necklace. Erecting on its haunch with chests puffed out, it sits firmly on a pedestal. The image’s excellent condition, its realistic appearance, its stable composition, and the ferocious details of its head all suggest that it may have been a tomb guardian placed at the entrance of or on the way to the coffin chamber. The immaculate condition of the statue indicates that it may have been kept underground. It was completely stored, no fragment lost. Also, its glaze is preserved exceptionally well, most of which remains on the statue, even the subtle black
glaze on its pupils. On the surface of the figure shows no obvious evidence of erosion or weathering, so it may have been set in a place with little ventilation and no exposure to the sunlight, life, atmosphere and water. The materials and the accompanying techniques the artist employs, including the ceramic sculpting process and the glazing method, allow the statue to be realistic and lifelike, scaring away evils and intruders such as tomb robbers. The statue is made of ceramics. Comparing to other techniques such as the bronze making process, the ceramic method is a relatively easy way to create a sculpture, because the wet clay is less difficult to pinch and mold figures. Further, it is easy to carve patterns on a clay in its semi-dry leather-hard condition before high-firing the piece in a kiln. Moreover, the glaze used to render the image is vivid and glossy, presenting the major colors of reddish brown, turquoise green, Mediterranean blue, and white. Under the strong gallery light, the glaze is extremely eye-catching. It is not hard to envision that even when positioned beneath the earth where there was little lighting and thus limited reflections, the vividly rendered glaze is still bright and brilliant, exerting its function to frighten away intruders. The sculpture has a balanced and stable composition, making it sacred and solemn. It is symmetrical, composed along a vertical axis running from its orange flame-like hair into the base of the statue, except that its head turns slightly to the right. The ceramic sculptor has based on fundamental geometric forms in shaping this image on either side of this axis. Therefore, the work could be delineated as a circle (the head) within a triangle (the protruding hair, the horns behind its head, and its blue and green curled cloud-like beard hair) which sits atop two rectangles (its torso and the pedestal). The artist’s reliance on basic geometric shapes reveals itself even in details of the piece. For instance, the spiky and twisted hair is depicted as a small triangular form within the larger triangle shaped by its hair and horns. On closer inspection, one can discern that the sculpture originally sat on a raised base against the wall, alongside the path to or at the entrance of the coffin chamber.
Its glared eyes look downward, intending to stare directly into intruders' eyes from a commanding position to terrify them. It might have been placed against the wall, because a hole exists on the back of the statue (Fig 2). This part of the image was hollowed to prevent the piece from exploding or cracking. The tomb designer probably intended to hide the hole, so the image is placed against the wall. Although usually the finished hair on the back of the work may suggest that its back is also meant to be displayed. The statue has a fierce and vigilant look, also playing a role to ward away intruders. It has raised eyebrows, flaring nostrils, half-open mouth, as if it is growling. It also has a pair of glared and slightly squinting eyes, as large as bells. Its fluted ears are aware of even the smallest sound generated by the intruders. The vigilance and fierceness of the image are essential to the safety of the tomb and the departed
soul. Thus, Tomb Guardian with Human Face, with its realistic portrait, its balanced composition, and its vicious facial expression, presents fierceness and vigilance. These elements convincingly show that the statue is a guardian. In addition, the statue’s pristine condition demonstrates that it might have been preserved underground in a tomb. Moreover, its looking-downward eyes and the hole on its back suggest that it may have been set against the wall in the tomb, occupying a dominant position.