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The Eight Immortals are folk heroes with supernatural powers who achieved immortality and became Taoist deities. They were probably actual people who were granted extraordinary powers after death. Since the 13th century they have been viewed as a fun loving group living in heavenly mountains and hills enjoying good food, wine, gambling and the opposite…
Small solid clay earthenware terracotta figures have been found in many Majapahit period sites primarily finished with carved and/or incised decorations. The powerful Majapahit Empire spanning the 13th-16th centuries was Hindu based, centered on the island of Java and extended from present-day Indonesia to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern-Thailand, and the Philippines. Trowulan was the empire’s…
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…
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…
Mazu represents different ideologies among two distinct Chinese economic groups: the masses of devotees who adore her in oral traditions as the humble provincial deity “Goddess of the Sea” versus the imperial followers who revere her in written tradition as the sanctioned “Empress of Heaven.” Two centuries after her death she was imperially sanctified, transforming…
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…
Of Guanyin’s 33 manifestations, Songzi Guanyin (Bestower of Children or Child-giving) was one of the most favored during the Ming and Qing dynasties when small images were placed on a home altar for veneration by families desirous of having a male child to carry on the family legacy. Songzi Guanyin is a syncretic goddess, embraced…
This stylized pair of folk art tigers covered with lacquer and highlighted with black pigment was likely part of a larger item, as there are indentations on top to insert vertical extensions. The tiger is one of many ancient mythical animals, and as the mount of the Taoist god Heavenly Master Zhang Tianshi tiger images,…
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