A RARE GREEN, YELLOW AND CREAM-GLAZED TILEWORKS DAOIST SHRINE
PROPERTY FROM A PENNSYLVANIA PRIVATE COLLECTION
A RARE GREEN, YELLOW AND CREAM-GLAZED TILEWORKS DAOIST SHRINE

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

Details
A RARE GREEN, YELLOW AND CREAM-GLAZED TILEWORKS DAOIST SHRINE
LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY
The bearded deity is shown seated on a cloth-draped lotus throne with his right hand raised and both arms resting on a three-legged, semi-circular arm rest with tightly curved ends. His hair is drawn up under a small lotus crown, and he is flanked by two phoenixes below a third phoenix with spread wings at the top of the shaped panel that rises from the back of the tiered pedestal, and a dragon is shown in front of the tiered pedestal between the upper and middle platforms. The whole is covered in green, amber, aubergine and clear glazes .
19 ¾ in. (50.3 cm.) high, wood stand
Provenance
Rare Art, Inc., New York, 1979.

Lot Essay

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.

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