17TH CENTURY

This figure possibly represents Tianguan, the Official of Heaven, one of the Three High Officials of Daoism. Tianguan, whose role is to give people their alotted share of luck and happiness, is portrayed with a handsome and benevolent face. For another figure identified as Tianguan shown wearing a ribbed official's hat also secured with long cords and wearing a similar rectangular pendant, but holding a hu tablet, see Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Chang Foundation, Taiwan, 1993, pp. 174-5, no. 80. See, also, the similar, but very large bronze figure (183 cm.) with hands held in the same position as the present figure, dated to the Ming dynasty, from the Nitta Group Collection, illustrated in The Crucible of Compassion and Wisdom, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1989, pl. 122.