Foo Dogs

I've always wanted to participate in an auction and I finally got my chance this past weekend. I signed up to place an absentee bid at the New Orleans Auction Galleries and I ended up winning an item! I had my eyes on a pair of really cute and sassy antique ceramic Foo Dogs that both Jack and I fell in love with. I had to bid against several different people (both online and on site) but I came out ahead. Bidding live time is really, really fast and a little intimidating. Luckily the Foo dogs were towards the middle of the auction so I had some time to get a feel for the process.

So what are Foo dogs? Foo dogs, or Chinese guardian lions (lions of Buddha), are believed to have powerful protective powers that have traditionally stood in front of places of import in pre-modern China (Imperial palaces, government offices etc). Foo Dog statues are always created in pairs and carved out of expensive stone or cast in bronze and iron. Because of the expense and labor to produce the foo dogs, they were usually reserved for the very wealthy. The dogs always come as a pair, one male and the other a female. The male plays with a ball under his left paw that represents the flower of life and the female holds a cub under her right paw representing the cycle of life. Here is some other interesting mythology associated with the foo dog:

-The female lion protects those inside the dwelling, while the male guards the structure
-If the lion mouths are open it symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word "om"
-According to feng shui the lions should face the entrance with the male on the right and the female on the left.

My dogs are obviously not gigantic statues but little ceramic ware statues for the home. The pair are glazed in a"Kingfisher" glaze and they only stand 10" tall on top of open plinth bases. I highly recommend New Orleans Auction Galleries. They had some amazing stuff up for auction and I'm already anticipating the next one! I'll post pics of my Foo dogs once I get them:)