Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 1 (1200s): Art, History and Details

Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 1 (1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Leaf 1 portrays one of the three supreme deities in the Daoist religion. Dressed in a garment and hat similar to that of an earthly emperor, this heavenly being holds a tablet in a posture also reminiscent of a mortal ruler. He is shaded by a pair of fans, surrounded by female consorts and their maidens, and attended by ministerlike figures on both sides. Again, as seen in the mundane world, two guards holding weapons stand immediately in front of and below the platform that supports this majestic figure. Despite the symmetry and hierarchical composition, the whole scene comes alive in a wonderful sense of clarity and subtlety. Sketched in fine lines and evincing a wonderful sense of flow, especially in the draperies, the figural group is fully integrated in an architectural setting that is just as exquisite.

Object facts

• Title: Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 1
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Album; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 34.3 x 38.5 cm (13 1/2 x 15 3/16 in.); Overall: 38.9 x 41.5 cm (15 5/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2004.1.1

A detail from the museum

A pot of purple crepe myrtle blossoms (ziwei 紫微) is directly before the Ziwei Emperor 紫微大帝.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund in honor of Dr. Ju-hsi Chou and Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange)

Further reading listed by the museum

• Martin, F. R. Zeichnungen nach Wu tao-tze aus der götter- und sagenwelt Chinas. München: F. Bruckmann a.g, 1913.
• Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. Fine Chinese Ceramics, Paintings and Works of Art. 21 September 2000. Lot 204.
• Donley, Gregory M. "Worth the Wait." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 44, no. 6 (Summer 2004): 12–13.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.