Mandarin official images are often shown seated with arms on the arm rests of horseshoe shaped or high back chairs wearing Qing dynasty officials’ front button long coat (changsang) over a long skirt and pointed hat with a finial (qing guanmao). This style was introduced by the Manchus, founders of the Qing dynasty, and influenced by their less elaborate cavalry-style clothing and was required by all Chinese Civilian Officials at court. Traditional Mandarin attire included a changshan coat – a long Chinese jacket with a high neck and front buttons worn over a long skirt – and the official headgear of Qing dynasty officials (qing guanmao): a black velvet hat in winter and a rattan woven hat in summer both having a top button or knob that later became a pointed finial worn for an audience or ceremony held by the emperor. For daily business or informal occasions, officials had to change the hat’s top. The shape and color of one’s finial was closely regulated and depended on the official’s rank which ranged from 1-9. A Mandarin Square (buzi 補子)is an embroidered badge affixed to the outer robe of civil and military officials that showed their rank and status in their hierarchies. First approved in Ming dynasty sumptuary laws of 1391, an official’s rank was indicated by large colorful bird insignias and animals were depicted for military officials. Although continuing into the Qing dynasty, there were stark differences in the square’s smaller overall size, the decorative borders were not as wide and there were some changes of the animals rank insignia’s after 1662 in military badges .
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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…
This masterfully carved ancestor as a mandarin official sits on horseshoe chair set on a footed high decorated plinth dressed in a well-appointed formal 3-button Mandarin long coat and pointed rattan hat. His face is uniquely and unusually individualized with heavy lidded eyes, in a benevolent expression and his advanced aged indicated by the wrinkles clearly depicting a loved individual. This exquisitely carved image in excellent condition with a fine patina was true homage to a revered family member and is one of our finest ancestor figures.
During the Qing Dynasty, reverence for Mandarin officials and their associated high status with it was so significant that families sought to perpetuate this image through the generations in carved and painted renderings of their ancestors. Ancestor-figures were the highest form of filial piety, and ancestor-worship was a cornerstone of Confucianism. Stuart (p. 82) states…
During the Ming and Qing dynasties small images of Taoist officials and priests were often shown holding a cup of the elixir of life to place on home altars along with ancestor figures, house gods and other religious images to bring blessings (fu) to the household. By commissioning figures like this artful carving, families honored their ancestors and met their filial piety duties. Mounted on an acrylic stand.
These carvings of the Taoist-Deities Tudi Gong and his wife Tudi Po are from rural Southern China where they were frequently depicted together as house-gods on a home altar or local temple for farmers to pray to for abundant harvests and success in selling their products. Although Tudi Gong is a low ranking deity, he…
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