413.
A BRONZE FIGURE OF ZHENWU
Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century
39,7 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 5244.
The deity seated on a rock supported by a pedestal with four cabriole legs, a turtle with a coiled snake on its back near the right bare foot of the god who wears an armour with an imposing lion’s head to the bell, the hair combed back and a curved scarf over his shoulders.
Zhenwu was originally know as Xuanwu (literally “Dark Warrior”). He was the Daoist deity embodying the north, a cardinal direction also symbolized by the turtle with the snake.
During the reign of the emperor Song Zhenzong (998-1022), a fervent Daoist, the name was changed into Zhenwu (“Perfect Warrior”) and a temple was built in Kaifeng, the then capital of the empire. Later, during the Yuan dynasty, Zhenwu was elevated to the rank of celestial emperor.
Emperor Yongle, who declared to be under the protection of Zhenwu, ordered the construction of many temples dedicated to this god, and among them the large one in the Forbidden City in Beijing. By then Zhenwu became one of the most venerated god of the Daoist pantheon.
Sculptures depicting Zhenwu in a manner very similar to the bronze here discussed, were also in the repertory of Longquan ceramic kilns at the same period (see the piece in the Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves in Lisbon: M.A. Pinto de Matos, A Casa das Porcelanas. Cerâmica Chinesa da Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves, Lisboa, Lisbon 1996, p. 47, n. 4).
