Antique/Vintage Taoist Priest with Elixir of Life, China (7506)

Description

This polychrome is depicted in Taoist Priest with Taoist attire and attributes. The facial features were repainted, which was commonly done to spiritual images, with white-cream skin tones, eyes ringed in black, thick black eyebrows, and red lips. In his left hand he holds a cup with the symbolic Taoist elixir of health and longevity, and in his right a small ingot (yuanbao) a symbol of and wish for prosperity and wealth. He wears xuanduan, formal attire for priests for ritual ceremonies with a long sleeved black garment with white piping and a black formal hat (guan). He sits on a backless chair atop a high pedestal with five painted characters 玉灵姚先生, the end ones identifying “Mr. Yao” as the individual and/or family that commissioned this piece.

The first two painted characters on the base are a bit unclear but refer either to the mythical “turtle spirit” or “divine turtle or tortoise” that symbolizes longevity, or the traditional Chinese medicine made from turtles and used for millennia. The sealed cavity indicates it was consecrated. This carving would have been placed on a family altar or home shrine with other spiritual figures, ancestral tablets and ancestor figures to honor the departed, practice familial piety, and provide good fortune to the family dwelling and its household. The piece is in very good condition except for two age cracks on the back of the pedestal, with an old repair.

Click here for Eye-Opening Consecration Ceremony Blog.