Guardian Lions in Zumiao Temple, Foshan

 

The guardian lions on this page were photographed in the Zumiao Temple (祖庙 zǔmiào 'ancestral temple') in Foshan (Guangdong Province).

This was where I first started photographing stone lions. To my regret, there were several lions that I omitted to photograph, including some rare Ming-dynasty stone lions.

 

Guardian lions in Zumiao

This pair of tall graceful lions (female is on the right) stands in contrast with the more familiar imperial style, in which the lions sit solidly on all fours. Both lions here have pearls in their mouths. (I'm not sure whether the male or female was on the right.)

Another pair of guardian lions

This pair of lions is representative of another fairly common posture, where the lions are crouched but somewhat raised up on their paws at the front.

"Lion hill"

The Zumiao had quite a thing about stone lions. There was a small "hill" in the grounds that had lions gambolling all over it!