Page 215 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

HIS SCULPTURE R E P R E S E N T S A LAUGHING IMMORTAL standing on
a rocky base. The figure wears a long, simple robe that falls to the
T ankles but that is only loosely closed, exposing his emaciated chest.
His ears are unusually fleshy, their tops curling over on themselves. Clad in
thin-soled, soft shoes, the figure's feet protrude from under the robe; a
kerchief-style hat partially covers his domed, bald head, its long tails trail-
ing over his shoulders. He holds a furled scroll in his raised right hand; the
hand and the scroll are replacements. His lowered left hand is concealed in
the long sleeve. Suggesting a mountainous setting, the modeled bronze
base has a lower section in the form of a rockery and a flat-topped upper
section which supports the figure. 1
The identity of this figure remains unknown, but the rocky base,
disheveled robes, emaciated chest, peculiar ears, and furled scroll confirm
that it is a Daoist immortal, the scroll doubtless symbolizing the esoteric
knowledge possessed of immortals but beyond the comprehension of
mere humans. The circular perforations around the mouth and above and
in front of the ears were for the attachment of a beard, probably of human
hair. (Traces of black hair remain in some of the perforations.) The use of
actual hair for such beards was intended to imbue the figure with life, the
hair assuming spiritual and symbolic functions more than aesthetic ones.
Although they sometimes appear on Qing-dynasty Dehua, or blanc-de-
Chine, molded porcelain figurines, such beards have a long history, stretch-
ing back at least to Tang times, when they were occasionally affixed to
2
pottery tomb figurines. Carved ivory sculptures were sometimes supplied
3
with such beards in the Yuan and Ming, as were wood and bronze ones. 4
The fluid lines, masculine features, and emaciated chest suggest a
late Ming date for this sculpture, as do the alert face, animated gestures,
and billowing robe (which suggests movement). A related but smaller
figure in the Palace Museum, Beijing, has been attributed to the late Ming
period (sixteenth-to-seventeenth century) by the Museum's curators. 5

T H E R O B E R T II. C L A G U E C O L L E C T I O N 2 2 1