Lot 289
289
A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE OF ZHENWU
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES E. BREECE III
A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE OF ZHENWU

YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE CIZHOU PAINTED FIGURE OF ZHENWU
Yuan/early Ming dynasty, 14th-15th century
The Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven hollow-molded and shown in civil aspect seated on a cloth-draped throne with a snake-coiled tortoise at his feet, all raised on a rectangular plinth, and painted in dark brown and russet brown on a white slip under a clear glaze
11¼in. (28.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

A virtually identical figure of Zhenwu, the Daoist deity of the north, was unearthed in Miyun County, Beijing, and is now in the Beijing Cultural Relics Research Institute; see Urban Life in the Song, Yuan & Ming, Singapore, 1994, p. 70. Like the present lot, this figure is paired with the 'Dark Warrior,' a tortoise coiled by a snake, which is associated with the north and with winter, and the sleeves of his robe are decorated with images of the Big Dipper.

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