![](https://www.xuzhenart.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Xu-Zhen_Eternity-Six-Dynasties-Period-Painted-Earthenware-Dragon-Sleeping-Muse_2016-188x200.jpg)
Eternity – Six Dynasties Period Painted Earthenware Dragon, Sleeping Muse
2016
Mineral-based composite, mineral pigments, stainless steel
198 x 250 x 120 cm
![](https://www.xuzhenart.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Xu-Zhen_Eternity-Six-Dynasties-Period-Painted-Earthenware-Dragon-Sleeping-Muse_2016_Perrotin001-scaled.jpg)
This “Six Dynasties Period Painted Earthenware Dragon” original is a Chinese funerary object from the 4th-5th Century. Placed in a tomb it provided a means to get to heaven. However ceramic dragons were also modeled in times of drought, people then believed that: “When the dragon appears, then wind and rain arise to escort him.” The original piece’s height is 25.7 cm (10 1/8 in.). The artist enlarged the dragon and placed beneath its abdomen egg-shaped “Sleeping Muse”, as a representation of fertility. The classic outlines of this Western modernist sculpture were incorporated into the narrative framework of the work in a pure and symbolic way.
![](https://www.xuzhenart.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Xu-Zhen_Eternity-Six-Dynasties-Period-Painted-Earthenware-Dragon-Sleeping-Muse_2016_5221.jpg)
![](https://www.xuzhenart.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Xu-Zhen_Eternity-Six-Dynasties-Period-Painted-Earthenware-Dragon-Sleeping-Muse_2016_5224.jpg)