Watchtower

Description

In this funerary sculpture of the watchtower is a lively retinue of hunters, musicians, dancers, and domestic animals. The representation provides a vivid picture of the worldly enjoyment to be perpetuated in the otherworldly realm of the afterlife. A low-temperature lead glaze is applied to its earthenware body, enhancing the modeled forms with a brilliant, smooth coating like a layer of opaque glass.

Provenance

(London Gallery, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1989); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1989–)

Watchtower

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25–220 CE

Accession Number

1989.71

Medium

earthenware with lead glaze

Dimensions

Diameter: 39 cm (15 3/8 in.); Overall: 54.3 cm (21 3/8 in.)

Classification

Ceramic

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund