Taoist God with Two Attendants

This image is Taoist in nature, with its central Taoist figure shown wearing a crown, dressed in a long-sleeved garment with wide sash, and holding a ceremonial fly whisk in the right hand. Two flanking attendants are shown in elongated form; the figure on the right is shown in profile, holding a cup and a flask, while the figure on the left faces forward with hands clasped in prayer. To the right and left of the head of the central figure, the halo is carved with a relief display of dragon-like beasts and disk motifs. The name, Gai, of the commissioner of the work is carved into the area below the central triad. The major characteristic of this image is the fact that the folds and wrinkles of the garments on the central figure and the attendants are not carved in a realistic fashion, but rather are shown with equally spaced ranks of folds. This technique is known as the “parallel multiple line motif.” This work is posited to have been created in Xi’an, in Shaanxi province, or in the surrounding area.