203.
A ‘FAMILLE VERTE’ ENAMELED BISCUIT FIGURE OF GUANDI ON HORSEBACK
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
20 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3286.
Guandi is a very popular deity of the Daoist pantheon. The God of War, he is an emblem of wealthy and also a honorary patron of literature because of his passion for Chinese classics. He lived during the late Han dynasty (died in 220), becoming one of the “three brothers of the peach orchard” together with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, after being a bean curd vendor during his youth. Already honoured as a deity during the Song period, his popularity dramatically increased in the Ming dynasty, after the publication of the Sanguo yanyi, “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, a novel probably written by Luo Guanzhong in the fourteenth century, in which the author told the events that occurred between the final decades of the Han dynasty and the reunification of the country in 280. In the novel Guandi appears as a brave warrior and a generous and honest man, always faithful to Liu Bei, the founder of Shu Han state.
