Statue

In the Qing Dynasty, lions were often found in pairs at the entrance of temples and residences. This female lion, of a pair in the gallery, is differentiated from its male counterpart by the cub under its feet.

This technique, cloisonne, is an enameling process whereby the design is constructed out of wires and soldered to a metal surface. The remaining spaces, called cloisons, are filled with paste and then fired. The use of cloisonne on a figure this size suggests the pair was made in an imperial factory for temples under direct patronage of the Emperor.