Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Daoism and Daoist Art
Works of Art (19)
Essay
Indigenous to China, Daoism arose as a secular school of thought with a strong
metaphysical foundation around 500 B.C., during a time when fundamental spiritual
ideas were emerging in both the East and the West. Two core texts form the basis of
Daoism: the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, attributed to the two eponymous masters, whose
historical identity, like the circumstances surrounding the compilation of their texts,
remains uncertain. The Laozi—also called the Daodejing, or Scripture of the Way and
Virtue—has been understood as a set of instructions for virtuous rulership or for selfcultivation. It stresses the concept of nonaction or noninterference with the natural
order of things. Dao, usually translated as the Way, may be understood as the path to
achieving a state of enlightenment resulting in
longevity or even immortality. But Dao, as something ineffable, shapeless, and conceived of as an
infinite void, may also be understood as the unfathomable origin of the world and as the
progenitor of the dualistic forces yin and yang. Yin, associated with shade, water, west, and the
tiger, and yang, associated with light, fire, east, and the dragon, are the two alternating phases of
cosmic energy; their dynamic balance brings cosmic harmony.
Over time, Daoism developed into an organized religion—largely in response to the
institutional structure of
Buddhism —with an ever-growing canon of texts and pantheon of gods, and a significant number
of schools with often distinctly different ideas and approaches. At times, some of these schools
were also politically active. Along with Buddhism, Daoism today is one of the two dominant
religions in the Chinese-speaking world. Although the attainment of immortality appears to be a
rather esoteric and challenging objective, Daoism, with its popular and cultic elements,
continues to provide practical guidance through codes of behavior and physical regimens, as well
as talismans and ritual services that help regulate the everyday life of its many followers.
By the twelfth century, Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism—known as the three
doctrines—were seen as mutually complementary, although at times they competed for
influence at court. Indeed, from that time forward, the pantheons of these doctrines
often overlapped and their rituals, architecture, and art appeared similar, often as a
consequence of commissioning the same artisans to create images and edifices. Daoist
art reflects the broad timespan and the diverse regions, constituencies, and practices of
its creators. The artists—commissioned professionals, but also leading Daoist masters,
adepts,
scholar -amateurs, and even emperors—working in written, painted , sewn, sculpted, or modeled
media, created an astonishingly eclectic body of works ranging from sublime evocations of
cosmic principles to elaborate visions of immortal realms and paradises as well as visualizations
of the Daoist pantheon, medicinal charts, and ritual implements.
The Museum’s collection illustrates the many facets of Daoist art, but is especially
strong in the pictorial arts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when many
members of the educated elite, unable to find employment as government officials
under the Mongol
Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), found places in the alternate hierarchy of the Daoist ecclesia. Other
works have a clear liturgical purpose, while the religious function of a third category of art
objects is more ambiguous, reflecting the widespread assimilation of Daoist concepts and
auspicious imagery in Chinese popular culture.
The Daoist sage Laozi is often shown riding on an ox or in an ox cart as he prepared to
leave China by way of a pass to the West. Legend has it that he authored the
Daodejing, or Scripture of the Way and Virtue, when the guard at the pass asked him
to write down his teachings. A small bronze sculpture (
42.25.19 ) presents the sage in a full robe, topknot, and a long narrow beard. Images of the other
paramount figure of Daoist philosophy, Zhuangzi, are less common, but The Pleasure of
Fishes ( 47.18.10 ) by the late thirteenth-century painter Zhou Dongqing evokes a famous passage
from Zhuangzi’s writings about recognizing feelings of joy in others. Wu Boli’s Dragon Pine
( 1984.475.3 ) presents a Daoist manifestation of qi, or “cosmic energy,” as a powerful pine tree that
recalls the double-S curve of the cosmic yin-yang diagram. The horizontal landscape Cloudy
Mountains ( 1973.121.4 ) by the Daoist abbot Fang Congyi similarly transforms a mountain range
into a writhing dragon vein of energy that uncoils out of the distance only to vanish into a misty
void.
A superbly crafted gilt-brass sculpture by a fifteenth-century artist (
1997.139 ) may be identified as the Celestial Worthy of the Primordial Beginning, one of the Three
Purities—the highest deities in the Daoist Pantheon. The robe of a Daoist dignitary (daoshi)
( 30.75.3 ), probably worn during Daoist rituals, features numerous auspicious symbols, including
sun and moon medallions on the shoulders as well as cranes, deer, and dragons. Beneficent Rain
( 1985.227.2 ) by the Celestial Master Zhang Yucai, the highest dignitary of the Orthodox Unity
sect of southern Daoism, illustrates dragons—embodiments of cosmic energy capable of bringing
forth clouds and rain. The painting was likely intended to demonstrate Zhang’s prowess in
rainmaking rituals.
Two
Ming-dynasty paintings depict members of the Daoist pantheon, which resembles a complex
bureaucracy made up of deities in the form of stars, officials, marshals, and lords. Star Deities
of the Northern and Central Dippers ( 2012.525 ) presents two constellations in
anthropomorphic form, while Marshal Wang ( 1989.155 ) illustrates a protective deity and his
retinue. Both images, which recall large-scale temple murals, were created as part of extensive
sets of icons used in religious rituals similar to those performed by Buddhists. The Lord of the
Northern Palace, Zhenwu ( 79.2.481 ), one of the most prominent deities in the Daoist pantheon,
can be identified by the serpent coiled around a tortoise that appears at the front of the pedestal
on which he sits. The Daoist deity ( 1971.163 ), decorated with yellow, green, black, and white
glazes typical of Ming-dynasty Daoist and Buddhist ceramic sculptures, probably represents the
Heavenly Marshal Zhao (Zhao Gong Ming), and epitomizes the kind of local gods that were
absorbed into the Daoist pantheon. The Investiture of a Daoist Deity ( 38.31.1 ), an
extraordinary nine-meter-long handscroll , depicts such an appropriation.
Among the many divinities in the Daoist pantheon, few are as prominent as the Eight
Immortals, a group of legendary figures that first became popular in the twelfth
century (
2006.238 ). In the fan painting Immortal Lü Dongbin Appearing over the Yueyang Pavilion
( 17.170.2 ), one member of this group is seen “flying” through the sky. Lü is said to have received
sacred knowledge from Zhongli Quan, another of the Eight Immortals, who is shown framed by
clouds on a Ming blue-and-white ceramic bottle ( 2010.312 ). Landscape representations often
evoke Daoist themes, such as Spring Dawn over the Elixir Terrace ( 1982.2.2 ) by the literati
artist Lu Guang, or the miniature mountainscape sculpted in jade ( 02.18.684 )—a stone of such
hardness and purity that it bears connotations of immortality. Often landscapes allude to Daoist
paradises, as is the case in Outing to Zhang Gong’s Grotto ( 1982.126 ) by the Ming loyalist
painter Shitao (1642–1707), who renounced his status as a Buddhist monk late in life and adopted
the Daoist identity of Dadizi, “the great purified one.”
Birgitta Augustin
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
December 2011
Citation
Augustin, Birgitta. “Daoism and Daoist Art.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/daoi/hd_daoi.htm (December
2011)
Further Reading
Augustin, Birgitta. “Eight Daoist Immortals in the Yuan Dynasty: Note on the Origin of the Group and Its
Iconography.” Orientations 41 (September 2010), pp. 81–87.
Augustin, Birgitta. “The Daoist Image—Portrait of the Immortal.” In The World of Khubilai Khan:
Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, by James C. Y. Watt et al., pp. 128–57. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2010.
Eichman, Shawn. “Immortals of the Wine Cup: Religious Images on Seventeenth Century Chinese
Porcelain.” Orientations 34, no. 3 (2003), pp. 86–92.
Eichman, Shawn. “The Art of Taoist Scriptures.” Orientations 31, no. 10 (2000), pp. 36–44.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New
York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. See on MetPublications
Hay, Jonathan. Shitao: Painting and Modernity in Early Qing China. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2001.
Katz, Paul R. Images of the Immortal: The Cult of Lü Dongbin at the Palace of Eternal Joy.
Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.
Kohn, Livia. Daoism and Chinese Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Three Pines Press, 2001.
Little, Stephen. “What is Taoist Art?” Orientations 31, no. 10(2000), pp. 26–35.
Little, Stephen; Eichman, Shawn, et al. Taoism and the Arts of China. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago ,
2000.
Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed. The Encyclopedia of Taoism. 2 vols.. London: Routledge, 2008.
Robinet, Isabelle. Taoism: Growth of a Religion. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997.
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