Chinese Mythology: Did you mean...?

712-779 CE. (Head is a reconstruction). Earthenware with pigments. Excavated from Hansenzhai, (eastern suburb of Xi'an), 1988. From the Xi'an Museum. (Photo taken at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Australia)

In China gods (menshen) were often painted on either side of a doorway to guard against evil demons or ghosts.

A gold sword hilt decorated with interlaced dragons. Eastern Zhou dynasty, 6th-5th century BCE. The British Museum, London.

Jade Zodiac, Imperial Palace, Beijing, China

An earthenware cavalry rider from the Tang dynasty, China. 618-906 CE. Height: 24 cm. (The British Museum, London)

Gold hairpins dating from the Tang Dynasty to the 7th century CE.

A photo of a boatwoman from Canton (Guangzhou), Kwangtung province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869. Wellcome Collection, London.

Group of earthenware figures thought to be playing a game of "Liu Bo". Found in a Han Dynasty (1st-2nd century CE) burial.

This ritual alcohol vessel is inlaid with malachite and copper wire. Eastern Zhou period, Warring States period, 475-221 BCE. From modern-day China. Anonymous loan. (The British Museum, London).

This beautiful gourd-shaped ewer and cover comes from China's Yue kilns, which were in Zhejiang province. They were made during the era of the Northern Song Dynasty, around c. 11-12th centuries CE. (Museum Rietberg, Zürich).