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Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 19

Unknown

1204

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Ming Painting Medieval Religious

Dominant colour

Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 19 is a 1204 unspecified by Unknown, a Ming Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1204 · Ming Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a line of robed figures floating on clouds, each holding a different object—a sword, a fan, a scroll. This is one page from a 50-page album that maps the entire Daoist heaven. The artist drew every deity in the same calm, precise way, as if listing them in a phone book for the gods. No drama, just order. To see how other cultures pictured their gods, look up *china, southern song dynasty (1127-1279)*.

The story of this work

Overview

This leaf is part of an important album of 50 drawings encompassing three subjects: processions of Daoist deities to the celestial spheres, the Ten Kings of Hell, and Erlang’s Campaign to Rid Mount Guankou of Dangerous Beasts ( soushan tu 搜山圖). This section of the Daoist pantheon features, in the lower row from left to right, the Heavenly Lords Zhu Yanshi 朱彥矢, Zhang An 張安, Xin Jiang 辛江, and Deng Cheng 鄧成. Depicted in the upper row from left to right are the Field Marshals Peng Qiao 龐喬 and Lu 呂元帥 . Their names are inscribed above each figure.

Read the full account in the museum source.