Immortal

The immortals of the Taoist pantheon are abstract and are identified as True Ones and Heavenly Worthies and some are Shen-shiens, an Immortal who has left this world and lives in the land of the blessed. Ordinary beings may become Immortals with very human qualities and foibles. In carvings they are portrayed sitting or standing in a relaxed position, wearing loose-fitting robes of varying hues. When these statues are taken out of context they are very difficult to identify so they must be described in generic terms as a Taoist Immortal, Taoist Official or Taoist Priest. As Terese Tse Bartholomew writes, “Any man or woman appearing in a landscape with pine trees, cranes, deer, and the fungus of immortality] may be considered immortal” (Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006p. 194)