Twelve clay zodiac figures from a tomb in Xi'an from the Tang period
The twelve clay zodiac figures from a Tang period tomb in Xi'an (十二生肖 陶俑 shí'èr shēngxiào táoyóng, "twelve zodiac clay figures") from the time of the Tang dynasty from a tomb of a member of the middle Tang aristocracy in Hansenzhai 韩森 寨 in Xi'an in the Chinese province of Shaanxi represent a set of the twelve zodiac animals, which correspond to the twelve branches of the earth . They date from the 8th century and were excavated in 1955.
They are clay figures of the zodiac. The robed figures standing on a pedestal have a human body and an animal head. Their height is between 36.5 and 42.5 cm.
In the time of the Tang Dynasty , the zodiac animals - also as grave figures - were very popular.
literature
- Yang Xiaoneng (Ed.): The Golden Age of Chinese Archeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People's Republic of China. ISBN 0-300-08132-4 .
See also
- Chinese zodiac (zodiac) (shēngxiào 生肖)
Web links
- History of Chinese Zodiac - English (Photo)
- Tangdai de kexue wenhua yu shehui shenghuo - Chinese
- Shi'er shengxiao taoyong ( Memento from June 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) - Chinese
- Shi'er sheng xiao tao yong - Japanese
- Twelve Zodiac Animals - English (description of another group of zodiac figures from a tomb in Gujiatan village)
- "Zodiac signs made of clay"
Footnotes
- ↑ Yang, p. 498.