Lot Essay
The legend of Zhongkui, the Demon Queller, began as early as the Tang dynasty and during the Song dynasty he became part of the Daoist group of gods. By the Qing dynasty, he was a popular subject in the arts, especially painting. For the legend of Zhongkui see Fang Jing Pei, Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art, Berkeley/Toronto, 2004, pp. 198-9.