Panel from Model Cooking Stove: Fairy Feeding Lingzhi Fungus to a Dragon
Unknown Artist
100–1 BCE
Medium
earthenware with impressed relief decoration
Dimensions
11.5 × 30.8 × 1.3 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund
Accession Number
1925.134
About this artwork
Han dynasty tombs were often furnished with grave goods to provide the deceased with items for the afterlife. This panel with a dragon was part of a miniature pottery stove to be placed in a burial chamber. This scene of a dragon being fed fungus by a winged fairy is molded on the panel. The dragon is an auspicious creature and an animal of the cardinal directions that protects the east.