Pair of lokapala (heavenly guardians)
China, Tang dynasty, c. 700–750
Earthenware with three-colored (sancai) lead glazes
40 7/8 x 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. each
(103.82 x 41.91 x 29.84 cm)
The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Ellen and Harry S. Parker III, 1987.360.1–2.McD

These Buddhist guardian kings, often called lokapala, are the protective deities of a tomb and indicate the four directions. The figures belong to a general class of grave goods known as mingqi, or spirit objects, which were buried with the deceased in subterranean tombs in China from as early as 1000 B.C. According to ancient Chinese belief, the spirit that remains with the human body at death must be humored with familiar surroundings and protected from evil forces. To this end, clay or wood mingqi in the form of attendants, animals, and representations of objects from daily life were placed in the tombs of royalty and noblemen. The practice reached a peak during the Tang dynasty, but continued on a lesser scale for several centuries. Mingqi production attained the height of sophistication and magnificence in the first half of the 8th century, when the simple green- or brown-glazed wares and painted pottery types of earlier centuries evolved into elaborately sculpted figures such as these guardians, naturalistic in detail and dynamically colored.

Shown as ferocious foreign physical types, the guardians wear fanciful armor and fantastic helmets; one arm is raised to hold a spear, now lost. The figures gain associated power through exotic animal symbolism: the heads of mythical creatures decorate the upper armor, and the legs of one lokapala emerge from the mouths of elephants. They express their ultimate triumph as guardians symbolically, in one case by trampling a struggling demon and in the other by balancing on a reclining bull.