LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

This rare tileworks figure likely represents one of the three highest deities of the later Daoist pantheon, the Three Purities: the Sanqing-Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure or the Celestial Worthy of the Way and its Power. Each of these three deities is represented in hanging scrolls illustrated by S. Little, S. Eichman et al., in Taoism and the Arts of China, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2000, pp. 228-30, nos. 65-67. As with the present figure, each is bearded and shown seated with his arms resting on a curved arm rest, of the type seen on the present figure. Of the three deities depicted, the present figure most closely resembles the deity depicted in the first hanging scroll, no. 65, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning. Like the present figure, he wears a small lotus crown, is seated on a lotus throne raised on a multi-tiered dais and holds his hands in a similar position, with a pearl held in the right hand. This painting is dated to the 16th century.