A sandstone kang stone, used to close the oven's firing gate. Shanxi province, Gaoping or Changzhi county, 18th or 19th century.
The frontside is decorated with a lion playing with the pearl, the backside with the moonrabbit in a roundel. Dim.: LxDxH 33,5x11x26cm. Condition: losses to corners from use and wear. The relief on the front and especially of the roundel on the back is quite undeep. This may have been the reason for someone to put grey paint over it to make it stand out more clearly. The decoration at the lower end of the base is such that I prefer 18th over 19th century as a period.