Page 20 - Imperial Jade Paris June 22, 2017

The subject depicted on this rather large screen is very ؆ħ 炗
unusual. It depicts a scene from the life of philosopher Laozi, 炗 啁
who during his emigration to the west and upon reaching the
western frontier of the Zhou empire, was held up by Yin Xi, 25 1997 83 139
Guardian of the Pass (Guanling Yin Xi). He was asked to write
down his ideas for Yin Xi which resulted in the rst written M
manuscript of the Daode jing, the Scripture of the Tao and its
Virtue, making Yin Xi the rst recipient of this text. Knight He Li T Tse Bartholomew Chinese Jades

In subsequent centuries, Yin Xi was known as Wenshi Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century from the Asian
xiangshen, the ‘Master at the Beginning of the Scripture’, and
elevated to the celestial rank of Wushang zhenren, the ‘Highest Art Museum of San Francisco San Francisco
Perfected’, re ecting his supernatural stature. According
to some versions, Yin Xi became Laozi’s disciple, in other 2007 360
versions, he became one of the most prominent immortals, a
teacher and master of Laozi’s scriptures. He was considered a 啁
major hagiographic gure in religious Taoism, for a complete
study on Yin Xi, see Livia Kohn, ‘Yin Xi: The Master at the M Crick Chine Impériale: Splendeurs de la Dynastie
Beginning of the Scripture’, in Journal of Chinese Religion,
Volume 25, 1997, Issue 1, pp. 83-139. Qing (1644-1911) ʭ 2014 153 68

A green jade boulder with the same subject matter, from the
Avery Brundage collection, is illustrated by M. Knight, He Li
and T. Tse Bartholomew, Chinese Jades: Ming Dynasty to
Early Twentieth Century from the Asian Art Museum of San
Francisco, San Francisco, 2007, pl. 360. For a related subject
matter on the reverse of a crane looking up at another in ight,
see a white and russet jade circular screen, Qianlong, from the
Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, illustrated by
M. Crick, Chine Impériale: Splendeurs de la Dynastie Qing
(1644-1911), Geneva, 2014, p. 153, pl. 68

Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-1936, London, 1935-1936, cat. no. 2770
© Royal Academy of Arts, London

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