MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

The loose hair and the bare feet are the two most salient indicators of Zhenwu's identity, the others being a tortoise and a snake. These are sometimes depicted underfoot, or entwined and placed in front of him. In this particularly fine example, he sits in a formal position, barefoot, with his long hair neatly combed but hanging loose down his back. Attesting to the popularity of Zhenwu during the Ming period are the large number of small ceramic shrines made for household veneration. These shrines were made with celadon and fahua glazes, as well as decorated with underglaze blue and white, such the example sold at Christie's, London, 17 June 2003, lot 17, dated to the Wanli period. Other bronze images of Zhenwu dating to the Ming dynasty are illustrated by S. Little in Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, pp. 294-95; and by P. Moss in The Second Bronze Age: Later Chinese Metalwork, London, 1991, no. 4. Another from the Guangdong Provincial Museum is illustrated in The Studio and the Altar: Daoist Art in China, Hong Kong, 2008, p. 60.