Celadon Oil Lamp

Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou

This stem of this unusual celadon object is decorated with a canine's head and oval body, whose forelegs perch upon a lower set of detached legs that depend from the body of the stem. The lamp's interplay between abstract geometry and zoomorphic realism, its repositioning of the usual constituents of the animal body, and its humourous characterization of the dog "surveying its domain," constitute all together a remarkable artifact.