Antique Rare Queen Mother of the West Puppet Head on Lucite Stand, China (16800)

Description

Chinese puppets historically played a large role in entertaining the general public and in educating rural illiterate populations especially about the role and importance of deities such as the Queen Mother of the West Xiwangmu  . This puppet’s headdress blends influences associated with the long history of the Queen Mother who evolved as a significant goddess from the Zhou to the Tang dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties she became a cult figure with local temples dedicated to her and artisans modifying her features and iconography making her more folk than regal. Her title was  “Mother of the Golden Tortoise” in the Zhou when she was depicted as a wild and disheveled shaman goddess of death.

In this rare Chinese ritual opera puppet head, Xiwangmu is a symbol of traditional Daoist cosmic mythology representing the  Xuanwu (Black Tortoise / Dark Warrior) motif in which a snake and a tortoise are intertwined.  Xuanwu is the ruler of the North  associated with death, spiritual transformation, and the afterlife. A symbol of death or cosmic power on her crown reflects Xiwangmu’s past. While she is the goddess of immortality, n ancient texts she was a fierce deity of plagues, punishments, and cosmic destruction before evolving into a benevolent queen. Her complex elaborate headdress includes a large outstretched tortoise atop a phoenix flanked by two serpents/dragons surrounded by an arch bordered with a scale like finish. The stylized tortoise with outstretched legs also associates her with early ritualistic, oracular, and shamanism rites of turtle shell divination.

During the Tang she was upgraded to imperial standing as one of the most important female Taoist deities depicted as a humanized beautiful goddess “Ruler of Heaven” symbolized by the phoenix in her headdress, with flattened outspread wings representing eternal life. Here she has a serene expression with downcast, smiling eyes and elongated earlobes (signifying spiritual wisdom). It retains significant traces of its original white gesso base, along with worn gilding and red lacquer highlights.

In 17th -19th centuries, she became a syncretic deity with a huge cult following in Taoism, Buddhism, and Popular Religion and wife of the Jade Emperor. She  has historically been venerated by women as a powerful, independent deity who embodies ultimate yin (female energy, and controls immortality and the afterlife.

It is in remarkably good condition for a carving that  wa ritually used since the 19th century. Most puppet heads depict generic warriors, scholars, or minor demons. Finding one representing a major, high-ranking deity like Xiwangmu with complex cosmic crown iconography is very unusual.

Click here for the blog Queen Mother of the West Xiwangmu: Taoism’s Iconic Female Sovereign of Immortals