A LACQUERED WOOD WITH TRACES OF GILDING FIGURE OF ZHONG KUI, THE DEMON QUELLER
China, Qing dynasty


The deity seated on a base that simulates the shape of a rock, dressed in a wide mantle that covers the entire left hand raised to touch the right shoulder, a sword in the left hand, the face with a grim expression, with big bulging eyes and long beard, the hair gathered up high and held back by a sort of clip.

46 cm high

Provenance: Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired in the early 2000s.
A famous legend tells that Zhong Kui was unjustly deprived of the honor of having passed the official examinations in which he had successfully participated. In desperation, he committed suicide on the stairs of the imperial palace. He then visited the emperor Xuanzong (685-762) in a dream and fought against the demons who tormented the sovereign's sleep, who granted him posthumous promotion and at the same time elevating him to the rank of deity. The next day, Xuanzong commissioned a portrait of Zhong Kui from the famous painter Wu Daozi who developed an iconography that has remained official, taken quite faithfully also in this sculpture.