Tomb Door Lintel

Grey limestone door lintel ornamented with surface engraving and the background cut away. The lintel features two animated phoenix-like birds, with swirling plumage, flanking a stylized sacred jewel surrounded with flames and lotus pods and leaves. The two doors that accompanied this piece were de-accessioned to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art ( 65-20/1 & 65-20/2) through a gift exhange. On each door there is a standing guardian in high relief wearing simple robes and a leather cuirass and cap with a flat piece of jade thrust through it. Below each guardian is a seated dog executed in simple incised lines and facing the dog on the other door.