Chinese Temple Pillar with Foo Lion

Small rider, tall post, excellent posture.

Carved in stone in Shanxi Province, China, in the 17th century, this temple pillar with foo lion is the slim sort. Guardian lions, often called foo dogs in the West, are a fixture of Chinese temple and palace entrances. A figure in a pointed cap sits astride a compact lion at the summit, with small openings pierced between the limbs. The long shaft is lightly tooled. Its square plinth carries a band of running spirals. Seventy-seven inches high.

He is not going anywhere, and neither is the lion.