Earthenware Figurines of Gaya

These are earthenware figurines from Gaya. Such figurines were made to resemble people, animals such as horses and deer, and diverse objects including wagons, shoes, ships, houses and so forth. These figurines were used as burial goods, and were designed to pray for the spirits of the dead and to wish for a peaceful afterlife. Similar goods to these were also buried with pharaohs in the pyramids of Egypt.

Horses and deer were believed to act as messengers between heaven and earth, so animal-shaped figurines were commonly buried with the dead. Ducks, birds, ships, shoes and wagon wheels were also believed to help the spirits of the dead to ascend to heaven.

The figurine in the middle is shaped like a grain storage building, symbolizing the god of the grain harvest. Can you see the mouse in the grain storage building and the cat that’s hunting it? It seems that the need to protect grain from mice has always existed!

These earthenware figurines are profound works of art which illustrate the way of life and the sensibilities of the Gaya people and demonstrate that Gaya has its own unique culture.