Chinese Ming Dynasty Tomb Funeral Pottery Bed Model

A Chinese stoneware horseshoe cross chairs circa Ming dynasty (15th-17th century). The miniature models were traditionally used as funeral burial objects. Pottery models of daily objects like furniture as well as servants, musicians, theater troops as well as food offerings were placed with the deceased as offerings for the afterlife. This practice became popular in Tang dynasty and persisted to the Ming Dynasty. The tomb stoneware tends to be relatively coarsely made and glazed in green and yellow glaze. They are charming for their vernacular and realistic style and provide a window to the contemporary society in terms of furnishing, architect as well as dress etc.
The throne-like bed, sometimes called Luhan bed, was an important piece of furniture and widely used in the sitting room of the affluent Ming household. It served as a settee and day bed, and often a small low table is placed in the middle. The bed model features the wood constructing in detail including the slab base, the surrounding frieze panels, the foot stool, exposed joints and corner brackets. There are holes of the four corners on the bed, probably used to hold canopy made from wood and fabrics, but the organic material has since desegrated in the tomb. The surface of the bed was decorated in green and yellow glaze and the top was left unglazed. There is lovely patina on this piece indicating a history of buried in the earth. In addition to general age-related wear, the top surface of the bed shows an accretion of earth pigment layers with some crystallization. The side and back of the bed shows iridescent oxidation of the green lead glaze. Underside the base is unglazed, exposing the red fired clay.