Xiao, the Chinese word for filial piety, is one of the foundations of Confucianism and was also embraced by Taoism. It delineates the attitude towards and practice of obedience, devotion, and care toward one’s parents and elder family members. In practicing piety, one puts the needs of parents and family elders over self, spouse, and children, deferring to parents’ judgment, and observing this reverence through prescribed behavioral acts of respect. Emphasizing rites and ritual behaviors is believed to strengthen family harmony, sociopolitical stability, and the power of the governing hierarchy. Ancestor worship and propitiating ancestor images on home altars with offerings and prayers are manifestations of filial piety. Belief in filial piety was later adopted in Japan.
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Mingqi are ancient earthenware pottery items usually made using a bivalve mould and covered with a lead glaze that fired to a dark green. The lead in the glaze often combined with tomb dampness for centuries creating a chemical reaction changing its coloring into a lustrous and iridescent green seen here. Han mingqi were ancestral…
Civilian Chinese-officials in dynastic China were awarded much desired positions after passing rigorous exams, as the selected few were assured high status positions, a comfortable living and retirement benefits. Families did their Confucian duty portraying their ancestor-figures in paintings and carvings and memorializing and honoring them by maintaining their filial piety by displaying their images…
This fine Chinese wood carving is a seated ancestor figure portrayed as a Chinese official. By the 10th century, the Chinese bureaucracy was run by a class of scholarly elite officials who passed a variety of tough examinations in history, philosophy and the Confucian teachings of statecraft and ethics. Passing made them eligible for positions…
Ancestor-figures portrayed as Chinese officials were placed on a home altar with other house gods and Buddhist or Popular Religion images to bring “fu” to the household. During the Qing dynasty, designation as an official was so significant families sought to emphasize this achievement in their family ancestral figures. They normally have serious expressions and…
Designation as civilian Mandarin officials was so significant that families fervently sought to perpetuate this image through generations in carved and painted ancestral renderings, especially ancestor-figures. This civilian official sits in the traditional official’s pose with arms on short armrests in an an ornately carved high back chair, curved backrest, tall legs and vertical slats…
Mandarin-officials were very highly regarded bureaucratic scholars serving the government of Imperial China and were often honored by their family descendants who included ancestor-figures in Mandarin officials-attire on the family home altar or shrine from the Ming Dynasty through the Qing (aka Manchu) Dynasty. As part of ancestor-worship these figures were the highest form of…
Ancestor-figures like this portrayed as a Mandarin official were placed on a home altar along with other house gods and religious images to bring blessings of fu to the household. Mandarin officials were lesser status public officials who acquired this rank by passing rigid exams. In the Qing dynasty this designation was considered so significant…
In China a set of earthenware Zodiac attendant figures was made as a 12 piece grouping, with each figure holding a small calendar animal with each year represented by a different animal – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig or boar – in a repeating 12-year cycle. Although…
This miniature earthenware mold made horseshoe chair is an example of mingqi, a Chinese term for an object made or burial purposes. Literally translated as, “items for the next world” or “spiritual utensils” mingqi are miniature models of items used in everyday life: furnishings, utensils, offerings, livestock, buildings, etc. made specifically for placement in tombs…
This miniature Ming Dynasty earthenware mould made horseshoe chair is an example of mingqi, a Chinese term for an object made specifically for burial purposes. Literally translated as, “items for the next world” or “spiritual utensils” mingqi are miniature models of items used in everyday life like furnishings, utensils, offerings, livestock and buildings, etc. made…
Ancestor-figures portrayed as Chinese-officials were placed on a home altar with other house gods and religious images to bring fu to the household. During the Qing dynasty, designation as an Official was so significant families sought to emphasize this achievement in family ancestral figures. As traditional, this carve official has a serious expression, sits on…
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…
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