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Details
- Other Titles
- Hoi Fan Ton
Ceremonial painting - Xiao Haifan (The Sea Banner) - Place where the work was made
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Hunan Province
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China
- Cultural origin
- Mian
- Date
- 1851
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- pigment on paper
- Dimensions
- 124.5 x 51.0 cm
- Credit
- Gift of Dr John Yu and Dr George Soutter 2006
- Location
- South Building, lower level 1, Asian Lantern galleries
- Accession number
- 276.2006
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Li Zongzhang
Works in the collection
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About
This is one of a set of paintings created for a consecration ritual performed by the Daoist Yao people of China, Vietnam and Thailand. The dramatic figure riding a dragon and holding bowl of purification water is Xiao Haifan. Believed to be an exorcist, he is one of the deities permitted to invoke ceremonies. His right foot is bare and his boot appears on the end of the dragon’s tail. According to tradition, Xiao Haifan lost his boot while crossing a body of water and the dragon recovered it.
Commissioning paintings such as this is thought to increase a person’s spiritual merit. Its inscription reads:The disciple Pan Fade, along with his sons Pan Fayuan and Pan Fawang, wholeheartedly commissioned a painting of the four deities. May the whole household be propitious and prosperous. [Inscribed or painted by] Li Zongzhang of Changde county. A kaiguang ceremony was performed on the eleventh moon of the first year of [Emperor] Xianfeng (1851).
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Dragon (2012), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 18 Jan 2012–06 May 2012
Walking with gods, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jun 2019–05 Jan 2020
Elemental, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 Jul 2022–2024
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Provenance
John Yu, 1980s-2006, Sydney/New South Wales/Australia, the nine Yao ceremonial paintings donated by Dr John YU were purchased from different locations including Xian in Shaanxi province of China, Bangkok, Shanghai and Hong Kong.