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Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Procession of Daoist Deities: Leaf 2

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 2 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 long line of gods in colorful robes floating on clouds, each holding a different object—a sword, a fan, a scroll. This painting is one page from an album used to teach young artists how to paint religious scenes. The gods are Daoist, but the album also shows Buddhist judges of the dead and warrior deities. It’s like a 13th-century how-to book for studio apprentices. Look up more about china, southern song dynasty (1127-1279) to see how artists worked back then.

The story of this work

Overview

This extraordinary album has 50 paintings on a variety of religious subjects. They were likely created by several master craftsmen to share with studio apprentices as models for fulfilling commissions. The Jade Emperor and the Daoist pantheon make up the first 26 leaves. The next 14 leaves portray the Buddhist Ten Kings of Hell administering punishments to the dead. The third section, called “Clearing the Mountains,” features divine soldiers, led presumably by the deity Erlang Shen 二郎神, fighting undesirable creatures.