Chinese, Eastern Han Dynasty
Tower, AD 25 ‑ 220
Glazed earthenware
32 1/4 × 16 in. (81.9 × 40.6 cm.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jouett Ross Todd, Justice and Mrs. Louis Brandeis, bequest from the Preston
Pope Satterwhite Collection, gift of Dr. Scott W. Cole, Mrs. Dulaney Logan, in memory of Mr.
Logan, Collection of the Speed Art Museum, gift of the William S. Kahnweiler Collection, presented by his wife, Mary Steele Tillman, gift of Miss Fanny Brandeis, Mr. Cale Young Rice, the estate of Miss Fanny Brandeis, Miss Jenny L. Robbins, Miss Mary C. Vance, Miss Anna Schollian, and Mrs. Clifford L. Alderson, by exchange  2003.13 a‑e

For Pleasure and Protection
What better way to spend a hot summer’s day than sitting in a tower, enjoying the breeze and surrounding countryside. A moat, mounted soldiers, and archers protect your tower, preventing your enemies from getting the best of you. This ceramic model represents in miniature the towers built by ancient Chinese landowners to protect their rural compounds. In a culture that believed in life after death, ceramic towers buried with the dead ensured they could continue to enjoy for eternity their fortified towers.