DAOIST RITUAL PAINTINGS

Inscriptions in cartouches identify the deities depicted in the scrolls. One noteworthy group is pictured in the top left-hand corner of the left-side painting and includes the three gods Fuxing, Luxing, and Shouxing. Like the other figures in the painting, these gods are shown as Daoist priests, although they are not exactly Daoist gods. Instead, they are gods of popular religion, quite possibly instituted at the imperial level in the early Ming dynasty, and today their images are among the most commonly encountered of any Chinese gods.