Showing 61–72 of 118 results
Nanhai-Guanyin seated in meditation (dhyana mudra) in her Tidal Cave on Putuo is one of the most popular Mahayana Pure Land Guanyin images, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and strongly reflects the Chinese syncretic blending of religious beliefs. Provincial craftsmen portrayed her in to reflect local beliefs, lifestyles and customs that resonated with…
The origins of Nuo Opera, performed in provincial villages in Southern China since antiquity, is found in spirit and ancestor worship and Taoism. Performances use a few dozen to 200 masks having distinctive facial features, decorations, regional and ethnic individuality and aesthetic diversity. Usually carved from poplar or willow which are light and less likely…
Nuo Chinese-Opera performances are religious dramas and operas as well as secular entertainment based on historic events, folktales, or literature that are still popular among ethnic groups along the Yangtze River. The two types of performances include the grand Nuo ceremony held by the royal court during national holidays, and local performances exemplified by this…
Officials are often portrayed in Chinese woodcarvings in a stable seated position with feet placed and firmly planted on a plinth. This compact Qing portrayal presents a person of importance and control, and it is reinforced here with an intense expression and closed eyes making him a bit detached to fortify his status, rank and…
Families often commissioned ancestor statues in the likeness of a civil or military official as these images conveyed the wish for a rise in rank or the aspiration to become an official as well as admiration for the integrity, endurance and perseverance associated with status as an official. This ancestor statue is a Chinese official…
Buddhist and Taoist deities were often placed on a home altar accompanied by a pair of attendants, one on each side, looking downward with modesty or inward with respect. Taoist attendants often carried unique offerings such as medicinal gourds/potions or pillboxes for medicine gods or baskets or sacks of gold and silver blocks for wealth…
The pair of antique oil lamps was clearly meant to bring good luck and happiness to its owners. Painted with gold and red, both colors fu, good fortune, they are decorated on top with a double lozenge, a diamond shaped symbol often depicted as two interlocked diamonds that represent the form of an ancient musical instrument….
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 Queen Mother of the West is one of the most significant of the female Taoist-deities and as a syncretic deity, has a huge Popular Religion and Buddhist cult following. She is one of the Great Chinese Goddesses and patron deity of women who controls life and death, creation and destruction and determines the life…
The syncretic Queen Mother of the West is revered as one of the most significant of the female Taoist-deities with a large Buddhist and Popular Religion following. She was the first female deity represented in Chinese art. Her immeasurable powers include her complete control over life and creation as well as death and destruction. She…
Among the oldest Chinese female Taoist-deities, the Queen-Mother of the West Hsi Wang Mu is mentioned in 300 BCE in sacred texts as a goddess who “obtained the Tao.” A patron deity of women and a divine teacher associated with the cultivation of virtue and immortality, she controls the life, death, creation and destruction of…
The Keith Stevens’ article “An Unusual and Extraordinary Ancestral Image” describes a similar figure of a huntsman with a weapon, a flintlock gun, which he stated was the only ancestral image in his vast collection which “depicts the calling of the deceased.” (Stevens, Journal of Hong Kong) His piece was from Hunan, South Central China,…
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