Showing 61–72 of 76 results
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…
While most families have had prints or paper-cuts of the Kitchen-God with or without his wife above their stove, carved wood images with a lacquer coating tended to be owned by wealthier families. The Kitchen God is syncretic as a Taoist, Popular Religion and Buddhist tutelary deity who protects the home and its inhabitants, observes…
The Eight Immortals were Taoist Deities who achieved immortality using different paths, usually dwell in mountains and hills, are portrayed singly, in pairs or as a group and are common deities seen in Taoist temples. They are folk heroes and most were actual people to whom extraordinary powers were attributed. Both Buddhist bodhisattvas and Taoist sages…
This Chinese-Republic porcelain is the Taoist Deity Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, holding his identifying symbol, a fly whisk. Fly whisks were used by Buddhists and Taoists to deflect insects without hurting them which was viewed as a way to allay ones problems and difficulties. Fly whisk (yun chou) means cloud sweeper, which…
Images of Taoist priests were often placed on a home altar along with other spiritual images, ancestral tablets and ancestor figures to honor the departed family members, practice familial piety and ancestor-worship, and request good fortune to the family dwelling and its household. Priests were called daoshi (道士 “master of the Tao”) identified by his…
This image from Guandong wears typical Taoist priest or shaman attire – an undergarment crossed at the neck, an overcoat clasped at the waist and a double-winged high hat centered with an image of a taotie. The taotie is a mystical animal sometimes on the hat of Taoist priests or shamans as a guardian or…
This human figure is an honored Dayak effigy called a hampatong, the name used for both ancestor and protective human and mythical animal figures made from Borneo ‘iron wood’. The Dayak people are indigenous to Borneo (Kalimantan), Indonesia, the world’s 3rd largest island with 4.6 million members comprised of over 200 ethnic subgroups. Residing in…
The end of Guandi’s name (di) is significant, as Chinese names ending with di refer to an imperial cult and their canonized status. A military general late in the Han dynasty who died in 220AD, he was deified during the MIng in 1594 and was declared The God of War and Justice and Protector of…
This masterfully and elaborately carved image represents the legendary Guan Ti (also Guandi, Guan Yu), the Chinese God of War and Justice wearing a celestial scarf. This most popular Chinese historical military hero is all things to all men, prayed to for protection and prosperity. He is generally portrayed as here wearing a soldier’s uniform…
Unglazed earthenware pottery cocoon jars were used extensively during the Han dynasty as mingqi, items made for placement in tombs to comfort the deceased on their journey to the afterlife. These ancient pottery vessels were ancestral objects, part of ancestor worship, made to revere and honor the deceased, fulfill Chinese duties of filial piety, and have…
This extraordinary rare piece is a special Chinese Popular Religion image of a Buddhist bodhisattva seated atop a round lotus throne with five arched and pointed petals atop a recumbent ox. It is a variant of Guanyin sitting in a typical posture with one leg up and the other bent in the position of royal…
Irvin identifies the Queen-Mother of the West as one of the three Great Chinese Goddesses who all were imperially sanctioned revered by all sectors of society. All are syncretic deities embraced by Popular Folk Religion, Taoism and Buddhism, share the feminine principles of compassion and are protectors who grant health, long life and safety in…
End of content
End of content