Antique Celestial Attendant with Offerings, Lucite Stand, China (19035)

Description

Statues of attendants often appear as a pair looking inward and flanking a deity, unless they are very important ones and look straight ahead. They may carry a range of offerings. This antique carving is a Taoist celestial attendant placed on a home altar along with deities, house gods and ancestors to bring wishes of fu, translated as blessings and good fortune, to the household.

She has a blissful expression, modest statue, pursed lips in a serene smile and downcast eyes of a reverent attendant. Her hair flows down her back under a decorative cap as she wears a traditional layered high collared outer robe over a shorter undergarment with a front broad sash and an elaborate formal lotus crown or headdress.

Hands at her chest under a ritual cloth. In Taoist folk tradition, she holds a plate with offerings of 3 fruit or dumplings  possibly a peach.  3-item offering is a pun for a group of three ancient gold or silver coins known as tael, a symbol of wealth. They also represent a wish for high status by passing of three different levels of examinations in China’s imperial examination system that lead to a career in civil service. The back cavity indicates she was consecrated.

It is in very good condition for its age and use with expected cracks, wood losses and deterioration to the base and is mounted on a modern frosted Acrylic base.

Sources

Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Images, Vermont, Tuttle Publishing, 2008.

Keith Stevens, Chinese Gods: The Unseen World of Spirits and Demons, London, Collins and Brown, 1997.