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…
This Kitchen God and his Wife is posed as streamlined virtual mirror-images and fashioned with a general quality relying on paint rather than deep carving for details. They sit on backless chairs on a plinth, with simplified gold officials’ robes with long color sashes, and well-carved black and gilt head gear. The wife’s face is smooth, generalized and the male face has a more deeply carved surface and painted highlights.
This polychrome vintage Chinese Republic porcelain figurine represents the most famous and colorful of the Taoist Eight Immortals, Lu Dongbin. He holds his fly whisk at his cheek, a traditional symbol of one who can fly at will. His face has a sweet benign smile with a long beard extending to his waist. He stands on a base with green and black swirling cloud forms indicating his ability to fly. He wears the robes of a Taoist sage in richly painted colors. The figure is in excellent condition and dates to the Chinese Republic Period circa 1920-1940.
This colorful Chinese Republic porcelain is the most popular of the Eight Immortals Lu Dongbin, who symbolizes immortality and long life. Dressed as a scholar, his beard is pushed to the side as he is in motion riding waves to show his magical powers. He holds a fly whisk which, along with the sword he often carries, are personal auspicious symbols. The most colorful of the immortals, he is worshipped by for his medical prowess and by scholars in homes and temples.
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 carved hardwood human figure is an honored Dyak ancestor effigy (hampatong) used to protect villages, people, graves, longhouses and paths to rivers and rice fields. Like most Dyak standing figures, this one is carved in comparatively low relief with arms held placed at the heart and chest and/or sometimes covering the covering the genitals and its facial and bodily features have deteriorated a bit, are rather shallow but are recognizable. It comes on a black Lucite base and was purchased in Bali in the mi 1970s. This piece is featured in a VA instagram post.
Guandi, the God of War and Justice and Protector of China and its citizens was a Chinese model of loyalty, virtue and morality and was depicted in Temples and home shrines throughout China. This antique figurine was probably part of a larger carving. He wears military maille, black gloves with a carved taotie which is a warning against gluttony and is covered in gold as a sign of power. The open back confirms it was consecrated by a Taoist priest. Mounted on a frosted acrylic stand.
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…
Cocoon jars were mingqi made for placement in tombs to comfort the deceased on their journey to and in their afterlife. An elixir of Immortality made from mulberry leaves or their ashes was placed inside for the deceased to drink and transmigrate into the world of the beyond. Ovoid in shape to resemble a silkworm cocoon, ajar rests on a small trumpet-shaped foot and has a narrow neck and a wide lip at its mouth. Painted after firing with vertical bands dividing it into panels, swirling cloud scrolls, and circular “eye” motifs at each end, this beautiful vessel is in excellent condition for its age with expected paint losses, scrapes, and dirt adhesions.
This extraordinary rare and delicately rendered rural carving is a female bodhisattva possibly Guanyin seated on a lotus throne atop an ox. Beautifully highlighted in vibrant gold and adorned with intricate designs on the lotus petals and ox’s saddle coverings, this statue shows how the concept of a bodhisattva was adapted to the deification of “draft animals” (beasts of burden) who were integral to rural daily and agricultural activities in Chinese Popular Religion, Buddhism and Taoism beliefs.
This Queen Mother of the West, the highest ranking female Taoist deity was probably displayed as a pair along a statue of Guanyin, the most significant Buddhism female (Guanyin on a Lotus Pedestal (16206B) highlighting the importance and similarity of these revered female images Like the Guanyin, the Queen Mother’s delicately carved face has half closed eyes, serene composure mouth with a hint of a smile, which is more Buddhist than Taoist. Her headdress, centered by her iconic phoenix, rests under a hood extending to her shoulders and back. She wears a high collared three-layered Taoist robe, her hands covered by a ritual cloth.
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