Etnografiska museet - Collections

In Japan you usually encounter statues of this kind at the entrance to Shinto shrines, but you may also see them in connection with Buddhist temples and prominent tombs. They are regarded as guardians that protect against malevolent spirits – hence the
popular Western term »guardian lions» or »guardian dogs».

Entering the shrine you will have the male one, os, on your left, while the female one, mes, will be on your right side. The male one is slightly taller and is distinguished by a protuberance, tuno, on its head, which serves as a weapon against evil spirits.
It keeps its mouth shut and is believed to inhale while uttering a-un! (derived from the primordial sound, according to Indian cosmology, u-hum or om). The female one keeps its mouth open, exhales and utters a!

In China, they are much more common and have been known since more than 2000 years. They guard the entrance to temples and sacred places, but also official and private buildings. Allegedly they have been shaped to look like lions, being inspired by ornamental lions found in India and Persia, where they expressed statehood and power. Since lions are not found in the wild in China it is evident that the look of domestic dogs has contributed to their appearance. This double nature of theirs has
followed them to Korea and Japan.

These »Korean bronze dogs» were donated to the Museum of Ethnography in 1938 by Mr. K. Anderson, jeweller to the Royal Court, who had acquired them in Kyoto, Japan (cf. photos 1, 2).

For many years they were placed outside the old buildings of the Museum of Ethnography (cf. photo 3). The new statues will soon guard the entrance of our new museum building.

The casting

During the spring of 2008 you can follow how the Irish
sculptor David Scarff will make moulds of the two
»Korean guardian dogs» owned by the Museum
of Ethnography. Copies will then be cast, which will
be placed on stone plinths outside the museum.

The statues will initially be covered with a layer
of elastic silicon, which in turn, section by section,
will be coated with plaster. The plaster coat will be
like a three-dimensional puzzle, which can be taken
apart and put together again. It will support the silicon
form when the new statue is cast. The latter transfers
all the minute details of the old statue to its new copy.

The silikon material

Silikon is a generic term for unorganic polymers based
on chisel and oxygen. Silikon is soft and mouldable
before hardening and is used for various purposes,
for example tightening, glueing and injection-moulding.
The silikon (Dow Corning 3481) that is used for the casting of these statues has been placed at our disposal by G.A Lindberg Chemtech AB. This product can be bought
in the artist shop Kreatima, Sveavägen, if you would like to try yourself.