Gilded and lacquered bronze statue of the Taoist deity Wenchang Wang

Seated in frontal pose on a tall throne, the deity is dressed as a high court official, his hands clasped before his chest around an upright hu tablet. He wears a crested official's headdress with projecting side flaps. A long beard, lacquered black, falls over the high collar of his robe. The wide sleeves and skirts fall in heavy folds over his knees, which carry roundels, and a belt with a pendant ornament circles his waist. His feet rest on a raised footstool. The figure is finished in gold over a red lacquer ground, and the back of the throne keeps a large area of its red lacquer. The wear to the gilding and lacquer has left the bronze visible in places.

Wenchang Wang, also called Wenchang Dijun, is the Daoist god of literature and culture. He is one of the many stars that Chinese culture gave a personal form, and he is linked to a group of six stars close to the Big Dipper. In the twelfth century the Divine Lord of Zitong, originally a local cult figure from Sichuan, was merged with this stellar god. The combined deity became the focus of a national cult and the patron of the civil service examinations. Tradition most often identifies him with Zhang Yazi, a man from Zitong, and the Wenchang temple on Qiqu Mountain there is his most famous shrine. People believed he decided the fortunes of scholars and officials, and he ranked among the most widely worshipped gods of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Those preparing for the examinations prayed to him above all, particularly candidates for the jinshi degree, which was the entry point to an official career. Late imperial towns commonly had buildings dedicated to Wenchang and to Kuixing, the god who served under him. His official's dress and the hu tablet he holds show him as a heavenly bureaucrat, the celestial counterpart of the scholar-officials who worshipped him.

Compare: Seated Figure of Wenchang, the Daoist God of Literature, gilded bronze, China, 17th century, Saint Louis Art Museum (565:1957)

Condition: Losses to the lacquer, scratches on the surface, otherwise good condition.