Daoist Deities and Immortals in Art

Daoist Deities and Immortals in Art gathers painted and sculpted images of historical or legendary figures who were elevated to divine or quasi-divine status within Chinese Daoist and folk religious tradition. Daoist theology recognizes two related categories of exalted being, gods and immortals known as xian, and its pantheon includes historical persons such as the tradition's founder Laozi and the general Guan Yu alongside legendary rulers and sages, each venerated as embodying Daoist virtue and granted continuing cultic worship in temples and popular festivals. This group anchors five works in this atlas depicting such figures, including images of Laozi, Guan Yu, the demon-queller Zhong Kui, the philosopher Zhuangzi as rendered in a later devotional print series, and a canonization scroll recording a mortal's elevation to sainthood, together illustrating how Chinese religious art records the passage from human biography to divine veneration.