Page 193 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

This piece depicts a magnificent procession of celestial Stylistically this painting follows in the linear style of the
figures dressed in long flowing robes and embellished with painter Wu Zongyuan (active in the early 11th century), who
luxurious jewellery. A jardinière in the form of a bronze was in turn inspired by the Tang muralist Wu Daoizi (active
censer sets the scene and leads the eye towards the figures c. 710 – c. 760). One of the most talented painter of Daoist
and their swaying robes, which endow the composition subjects in the Song period, a handscroll by Wu Zongyuan
with a sense of animation. In Taoism, female immortals painted with a procession of immortals dressed in similar
were fundamental manifestations of the yin force, and flowing robes, was included ibid., cat. no. 74.
complemented the yang (male) force. The vital importance Compare also paintings made for the Water and Land Ritual
of yin is expressed in a passage of the Daode jing [The (Shuilu zhao), which feature elegantly dressed immortals
Scripture of the Dao and its Virtue], attributed to Laozi, standing among billowing clouds, such as a set of four
translated in the catalogue to the exhibition Taoism and the paintings, including one of female immortals, from the
Arts of China, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, p. 275:
Baoning temple, Shanxi province,and now in the Shanxi
The Valley Spirit [the Tao] never dies. It is named the Provincial Museum, Taiyuan, included in the exhibition
Mysterious Female. And the Doorway of the Mysterious Imperial China. The Living Past, Art Gallery of New South
Female Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang. Wales, Sydney, 1992, cat. no. 57.1.
It is there within us all the while; Draw upon it as you will, it
never runs dry.
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