Architectural ornament - Rare temple portal

Rare pair of carved wooden temple portal posts with Fu lions

Ancient Chinese hardwood portal posts with remnants of red coating. The two nearly one-meter-high posts impress with their powerful presence and size. They are crowned by carved Fu-lions on lotus bases – classic protective creatures of Chinese culture, one with a brocade ball under its paw. The sides are reinforced with pierced vine decor, and each has two original, hand-forged iron pins used for attaching additional wooden elements.

Especially remarkable are the clear smoothing marks on the lion heads, which testify to ritual contact and confirm their cultic use. Such wooden portal elements have rarely survived over time, as they are usually destroyed or altered. All the more extraordinary is this fully preserved ensemble, which once probably adorned a shrine or temple.

Dimensions: each approximately 98 × 26 × 34 cm.

Condition: signs of age and wear, drying cracks, setting rubbed.

Provenance: from a Swiss private collection.