Their tradition has no known origin, but it is likely that the practice of reproducing in ink on paper philosophical or religious texts engraved on stone slabs began in the first centuries of our era. They were used first for Confucian texts and then for Taoist and Buddhist works.
Rock and bamboo
By placing a damp sheet of paper and tapping it with an ink-soaked pad, once removed, the painting/subject will appear in white on a black background or in black on a white background, in case the inscription or painting is embossed.
Shaolin, monastery of meditation
Among the rubbings, the most common subjects are characters from the Taoist and Buddhist repertoire, animals, often used in burial tombs, reproductions of sacred Chinese mountains, monasteries or pictorial subjects, made from engravings on stone slabs.
Bodhidharma
There are many rubbings with sacred figures, such as the Bodhidharma, revered as the first patriarch of the Chinese Buddhist tradition. He was an Indian monk often represented with a reed, as he crosses the Blue River to evoke its supernatural powers.
The Bodhidharma, as it appears in our rubbing, is also often represented with a shoe hanging from a stick, to recall a legend that 3 years after his death, he was seen walking in Central Asia returning to India with only one shoe.
Shouxing
In Taoism Shouxing represents long life. He’s an old man with a white beard and mustache, supported by a knotted staff. The knots express longevity and often alongside him appear a deer, another symbol of long life, and a young man fishing for immortality.
Zhong Kui "demon chasing demons"
The demon Zhong Kui was a scholar, who failed the imperial exam and committed suicide, but a century later, he appeared in a dream to Emperor Xuanzhong to protect him by driving out another demon. He wears a literary hat, black boots, and carries a book and a lyre.
Portrait of Confucius
Confucius is represented in one of the largest rubbings in the Museum, 192x160 cm, entitled “Effigy of the Supreme Master.” In the painting made by Yun Li of the Qing Dynasty, the master wears the hat of the scholar, pierced from side to side by a nail.
The sacred mountains were identified as empowered places and seats of divine beings. Their particular conformation, facing the sky and the isolation they favored, made them the ideal place for self-awareness according to Taoist and Buddhist traditions.
The 5 peaks
In Taoism, 5 mountains are the abodes of the gods and protectors of the earth. To guide and protect pilgrims, maps were created with talismanic symbols that captured the "true shape" of the mountain itself, the one not visible to the profane, capable of radiating its magic.
Wo Long Gang temple
A view of the Temple of Wo Long Gang "the hill of the sleeping dragon".
The buildings, which are surrounded by walls constitute the home of Zhuge Liang, are to be found at the top of a hill.
Dragon and tiger
The often-represented animals are the dragon that indicates the east, the red bird for the south, the tiger of the west and the xuanwu of the north, which is a snake wrapped around a turtle. The Dragon and the Tiger became symbols of Yang and Yin, the principles underlying all phenomena.
