SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)

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A PAINTED WOOD FIGURE OF A FEMALE DAOIST IMMORTAL
SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
Possibly representing the Mother of Heaven, the figure shown seated with hands clasped beneath a cloth in front of the chest, the top of the cloth with a rectangular slot, wearing a shawl over layered robes with a stiff inner collar and feather-bordered sleeves, the oval face carved with small mouth and nose and small rounded pupils in the hooded eyes, the hair pulled up behind a ruyi-head tiara and covered with a cloth, with a large rectangular opening in the back, extensive traces of black, dark red and green pigment and gilding
35 in. (89 cm.) high, stand

Lot Essay

A very similar wood figure of a seated female Daoist immortal described as the Queen Mother of the East Mountain, but of larger size (152 cm. high) and dated to the Song dynasty, from the Liang-sheng T'ang Collection is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Sculpture II, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2000, p. 90, no. 35. Another similar figure, but shown standing and dated to the Northern Song dynasty, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; diaosu bian; Wudai Song diaosu, Beijing, 1988, vol. 5, p. 91, no. 84. Refer, also, to the two polychrome wood standing figures of female Daoist immortals flanking a shrine of the immortal Yuhuangdadi in the Yudi Hall of the Yuhuang Temple dated to the AD 1076 in Jincheng, Shanxi province, illustrated ibid., p. 88, no. 82.

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