Now I love myths and legends, especially mythic creatures. I think this might be my new favourite.
It’s a Grave Guardian Beast (Zhenmu Shou) from China (480-221BC) and is made of wood with polychrome pigments and lacquer horns.
As you’d expect with any archaeological item such as this they don’t really know what they were for. They have found a number of these antlered figures with long tongues in tombs of this time. Best guess is that since they are found at the head of the coffin they might be to protect the dead from evil. Apparently they can also come with a double head.
I was also very fond of this fat dog from Mexico.
As seen at the Art Institute of Chicago
