Important ancient Chinese Zodiac complete collection of 12 animal head sculptures, Ming dynasty 1368-1644.

This interesting set with animal heads dates to the Ming dynasty. Normally zodiac figures from the Ming dynasty have human heads and they hold the zodiac emblem animal in their hands.The statues have animal heads and human bodies, and are dressed in long gowns with long sleeves, their hands folded in front of their chests.

Pottery zodiac figures were realistic in appearance in China as seen in examples from the Northern dynasty (AD 386-581). Later, they became more stylized, and gradually transformed into a combination of animal and human features. Our set is very interesting in that the figures are extremely detailed and with outstanding original hand applied glazes and pigments. The zodiac figures were often placed in a north-south direction in coffin chambers to represent the progress of time. People hoped that such an arrangement would encourage gods to guard the tomb.

Size: 9 inches tall

Condition: Superb, all figures are intact with finely preserved green and yellow glazes and original pigment that was originally applied by hand. The statues with the head of a different zodiac emblem are dressed in long gowns with long sleeves and represent one of the twelve celestial animals of the zodiac. They are beautifully glazed – a superior feature not often found on most Ming dynasty works of art and representative of an important tomb which deserved highest quality pottery representations.

Twelve (12) Zodiacs are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig or boar. These correspond to the twelve earthly branches and are infrequently found in wealthy tombs of the elite and wealthy ancient Ming Chinese.

Provenance: Old European collection originally acquired in Hong Kong 1990s and legally imported into the USA.

Guarantee: Our figures are guaranteed to be crafted during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A thermoluminescence TL report sampling accurately confirms age of these sculptures from about 500 years ago.

History: The English word zodiac derives from zodiacus, the Latin form of the Ancient Greek zoidiakòs kýklos , meaning “circle of little animals”. Zoidion (??d???) is the diminutive of zoion (????, “animal”). The name reflects the prominence of animals among the twelve signs. Essentially, the twelve divisions or signs is a celestial system, or more specifically an ecliptic coordinate system, which takes the ecliptic as the origin of latitude , and the position of the Sun at vernal eqinox as the origin of longitude. The zodiac is the circle of twelve 30° divisions employed by western astrology and (formerly) astronomy. The western zodiac is centered upon the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the moon and visible planets also remain close to the ecliptic, within the belt of the zodiac, which extends 8-9° north or south of the ecliptic, as measured in celestial latitude. Because the divisions are regular, they do not correspond exactly to the boundaries of the twelve constellations after which they are named.

Ming dynasty:
The Ming dynasty then known as the Empire of the Great Ming ruled China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. This dynasty has been described as one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history and was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.