Ancestral means “pertaining to ancestors; descending or claimed from ancestors”. In cultural terms it refers to objects and traditions relating to honoring and worshiping ancestors and their spirits through ceremonies or rituals, revering ancestor images, presenting offerings to please the deceased and attract their favor and protection and placing items in their burial site to please the departed and provide comfort in their afterlife. In China ancestor carvings or ancestral tablets – also known as spirit or memorial tablets – representing the spirit of the deceased or the seat of a deity were placed on home shrines or altars along with Buddhist, Taoist or Popular Religion images.
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This Roman Egyptian figurine from Alexandria of a woman holding a young child is a Kourotrophos, a class of god and goddess figures holding infants or children. Referred to as child nurturers, these were revered deities, cult figures and mortals who were fertility symbols and protectors of the young.
This figure is Harpocrates the Greek god of silence, confidentiality and secrets holding a jar. The iconography hints at a royal and temple cult, as he wears a double crown symbolizing both Upper and Lower Egypt. A royal emblem showing an association with the contemporary king, in Egypt royals with crowns were a manifestation of the Egyptian god Horus. Small white specks are all that remains of the slip and colorful paints covering it. Missing part of his right side when excavated, there are no repairs and it is mounted on a stand. Given its age, the image is in good condition with normal scrapes and cracks found in pieces of this age.
Cocoon jars were mingqi made for placement in tombs to comfort the deceased on their journey to the cosmos. An elixir of Immortality made from mulberry leaves or their ashes was placed inside for the deceased to drink and transmigrate into the world of the beyond like a butterfly. Ovoid in shape to resemble a silkworm cocoon, they rest on a small trumpet-shaped foot and have a narrow neck and a wide lip jutting outward at the mouth. Painted after firing with vertical bands dividing it into panels, swirling cloud scrolls and circular “eye” motifs at each end, this beautiful vessel is in excellent condition for its age with expected paint losses, scrapes and adhesions of dirt.
This two thousand year old heavy wine vessel called a Hu is covered in a dark-green lead glaze used often during the Han dynasty for burial items called mingqia variety of which were placed in tombs to provide comfort to the deceased in their afterlife. With a characteristic elegant hu shape, it rests on a wide foot and rises to a minimally decorated globular body with low relief horizontal bars, a wide tapering neck and is topped by a wide flaring bowl-like mouth. Its underside, like most, was left unglazed.
This glazed pig mingqi was one of many items made for a tomb to placate the spirit of the deceased and assure the soul’s access to the things enjoyed when alive. This animal mingqi confirms the importance of pigs as a food source and of raising livestock in Han China. An alert animal whose stocky body is typical, it’s dark lead green glaze and damp tomb created a chemical reaction over centuries making it a lustrous, iridescent green impossible to copy that is highly valued in China and by collectors. In very good condition, it has expected glaze losses, minor abrasions and cracks due to its age and long tomb burial.
This beautifully carved and heavily gilt antique cabinet is a fine example of Straits Chinese furniture made in Guangdong for the Southeast Asia market. Double hinged vertical doors with wood pegs are composed of three carved openwork panels: horizontals on top and bottom and a tall one in between. Each door has a phoenix flanked by peonies in the center panel. Above and below the doors are open-work panels with florals running horizontally. The shrine rests on a low pedestal with curving gilt lines and florals. Above and below the tall panels are thin horizontal panels centered with a pod filled with seeds expressing a wish for many sons. The inside rear wall has a painted outline of a gilt table holding a finely painted gold, black and grey Chinese screen.
Dressed in a red robe with a high neck collar, extremely wide sleeves extending below the knees and a belt around his waist, this is a civil official or an ancestor standing on a rectangular base with hands together wearing along red civil official’s robe that extends to his shoes but has no rank badge indicated. The piece is in very good condition with much of its original pigmentation/lacquer finish and minor cracks and lacquer losses.
This ancestor figure, carved in boxwood the preferred wood softwood during the Qing Dynasty, is portrayed in the characteristic pose of a Chinese civilian official, grasping his official’s belt with his right hand to demonstrate his important stature – which was really not so important for this gentleman, given his humble seating furniture and his modest attire. His right hand rests on the his knee as he sits erect on a thick low-back pedestal. Unlike many officials who are serious, this one is more approachable, with simple deeply carved smiling features, high arching brows and a black painted mustache and beard.
This finely designed 14/15th century globular stoneware box resting on a short foot has an olive-brown glazed lotus bud handle surrounded by radiating radiating olive-brown and lightly glazed petals above a band of geometric shapes. The body is lyrically ornamented with an intricate scroll of white and light glazed and incised colored branches and florals on an olive-brown glaze background. Its fine appearance is a result of the unusual lovely olive-brown surface with a glaze applied sparsely in some areas and thicker in others to offset thevegetal scrolls.
This small fine quality piece depicts a modest ancestor seated with his arms on the rests of a horseshoe chair on a raised pedestal emphasizing his importance. He is dressed in a well-appointed 5-button Mandarin long coat with a round collar, wears a plain round Mandarin officials hat (missing its top finial), and an undergarment extending to the top of his black shoes. He has a somewhat personalized oval-shaped tranquil face, a high forehead with curved painted brows, an extremely long triangular nose, a hint of a smile on his pursed lips, and a triangular pigtail down his back.
A group of 12 zodiac figures as mingqi sometimes accompanied the wealthier deceased in their tomb. This Ming dynasty earthenware figurine stands on a low circular base and wears an official’s hat and long flowing robes. It is difficult to identify the specific animal held here but it may be a rabbit, small dog or baby pig. The detailed figure is hollow and partially mould-made and unlike glazed mingqi, was covered with a white slip and painted using black and white pigments which are mostly extant.
Often ancestral figures were portrayed sitting in horseshoe chairs to reflect the high status of the figure they were portraying. As many earthenware mingqi, this well-modeled chair has a liberally applied thick green glaze resulting in expected drips around the stretchers. The seat is decorated with a yellow glaze imitating caning and the decorative carved design on the splat also has a yellow glaze and a carved decorative “clocklike” circular design. The bottom of the seat and legs are not glazed, as is usual. It is in very good condition with expected minor chips and minor glaze pitting and deterioration consistent with its age and long burial. It pairs perfectly with item 3330 and together would add to a fine collection of Chinese ceramics.
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