Daoist Immortal Han Xiangzi (1662–1722): Art, History and Details

Daoist Immortal Han Xiangzi (1662–1722) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

One of the Eight Immortals, Han Xiangzi was said to be the nephew of the famous Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824). He is usually shown as a young boy holding a flute. Han is wearing a white robe decorated with peonies, hinting at his identity as the patron of florists and his legendary ability to make peonies bloom in winter. A four-clawed dragon, a decorative motif typically used for imperial nobility and certain high-ranking officials, decorates Han’s robe.

Object facts

• Title: Daoist Immortal Han Xiangzi
• Date: 1662–1722
• Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi reign (1662-1722)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: porcelain with famille verte overglaze enamel decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 28.3 cm (11 1/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.194

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990.
• Tannenbaum, Barbara. Ann Hamilton: Still and Moving: The Tactile Image. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025.

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.