A BRONZE WITH AZURITE MODEL OF A GRANARY
China, Han dynasty

With a rectangular section, the body supported by four feet in the shape of a bear and surmounted by a sloping roof, in the upper part of the building a two-doors window.

25 cm high

Provenance : Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired in the early 2000s.
Ceramic and bronze granary models became very popular during the Han dynasty as a set of tombs for bureaucratic officers and wealthy landowners. The most widespread model is undoubtedly the cylindrical one but rectangular specimens like this are also known, especially found in archaeological contexts in northern China, usually characterized by the presence of feet shaped as bears (a rectangular ceramic model is in the Art Institute of Chicago, inv. 1924.238; see also the piece in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, inv. 242.1989).