Mortuary Figure of the Zodiac Sign: Serpent (Virgo) (Q60747165)

Label from: English (en)

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collection: Cleveland Museum of Art (Q657415)
location: Cleveland Museum of Art (Q657415)
part of: Mortuary Figures of the Zodiac Signs (Q60749113)
depicts: figurine (Q1066288) funeral (Q201676)
instance of: sculpture (Q860861)

catalog URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.76.6

information from the Cleveland Museum of Art catalog

description: The twelve-animal zodiac series—rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar—signifies a traditional Chinese concept of time structured in a cyclical order. The twelve animals are also linked to the art of fortunetelling that underlies human existence in connection with the changes of the universe. The use of the twelve zodiac animals as tomb furniture suggests they provided a cosmological structure for the afterlife.

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