Page 29 - Metropolitan Museum Collection September 2016

Lot 878 Lot 899

of Heaven, chose to use lion images to guard his doors and gates,
and by the Qing dynasty this privilege had extended. Statues of
guardian lions stood in front of Imperial palaces, Imperial tombs,
government offces, temples, and the homes of government offcials
and the wealthy. The lions are usually depicted in pairs, a male
leaning his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts,
representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a
playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture). The concept
was replicated in much smaller porcelain fgurines such as the famille
verte examples, mass-produced for popular use.4

Mythical beasts were popular subjects for painted decoration on
vessels. The two vases (lots 872, 873) bear lucky creatures called
qilin and bai ze. Qilin have a head and scaly body like a dragon,
the tail of a lion and cloven hoofs like a deer. Gentle and kind to
all living beings, qilin are auspicious creatures who bring prosperity,
peace, protection, long life and fertility. These qualities are linked
to its original appearances, said to occur when the birth or death of
a great scholar or benefcent ruler took place. A popular story says
that the birth of the philosopher sage Confucius was foretold by the
arrival of a qilin. Bai ze (literally meaning “white marsh”) are also
lucky, said to have helped the mythical Yellow Emperor control
hauntings and attacks by supernatural beings. Thus it is a protective,
intelligent and lucky creature, said to dwell in mountains and often
portrayed gazing upwards towards the skies.5

Real animals were also portrayed in porcelain, as the lively model of
a piebald horse shows (lot 899). The animal is in the act of rising to
its feet from a bed of green grass, the bridle round its head showing
that it is ready to be ridden.

Figures of deities in human form may perhaps originally have been
destined for Chinese altars and domestic shrines, though many

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