Chinthe duo

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Beanz
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:38 pm

Chinthe duo

Post by Beanz »

Good evening everyone,
I hope life all finds you well and that everyone came through the last 29 months safe and healthy.

The image shows 2 Chinthe statuettes facing each other but with the faces turned away from each other to look in the same direction. The history of this pair is that they were brought back after WW2 in 1947 from 'Burma' and have remained with the family.
What interests me is what their paws rest on - both are different. Is there somebody that can educate me as to the symbolic meaning of this? I have spent hours searching the internet in the hope of catching something similar but all pairs that I have found both face forward and look straight ahead.
Any information would be interesting.
Take care
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Hazel
Former staff member
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Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 11:15 pm
Location: she/her

Re: Chinthe duo

Post by Hazel »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_guardian_lions

One has a cub the other a ball (mentioned in the article above).
Happy Pride month to my queer dharma siblings!

What do you see when you turn out the lights?
Beanz
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:38 pm

Re: Chinthe duo

Post by Beanz »

That is superb thank you. Also found out these were sets made between 1920 and 1949 which fits the family story. The writing on the bottom reads 'Hong Wu'. These might have been a tribute to him but we're still digging for that information.
The best laugh has been that they have gone from 'dragons' for the last 75 years to 'Pekinese' in less than a heartbeat. The surviving family member is having a proper chuckle about that.
Been very interesting thus far.
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