18TH-19TH CENTURY

The present group represents Guandi, the God of War, flanked by his attendants Guanping and Zhoucang. Guandi is the deified name of Guanyu, who was the renowned third-century general of the state of Shu and was popularized by the fourteenth-century historical novel Sanguo Yan Yi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He is reputed to have been killed in AD 219 along with his adopted son Guanping and his trusted general Zhoucang in Jingzhou by the army of Sunquan, ruler of the state of Wu. By the Sui dynasty, Guanyu had become deified. While his actions are reputed to be overly exaggerated in later accounts of his life, Guandi remains one of the most popular Chinese historical figures, and to this day is worshipped by Daoist and Buddhist practitioners as a guardian deity.

According to the entry for the present figure of Guanping in Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, p. 188, “Guanping was very handsome and is conventionally portrayed with a white face, in contract to Zhoucang who is portrayed with a black face.”

A related gilt-bronze group of slightly smaller size (12 ½ in.), dated to the 18^th century, was sold at Christie’s Paris, 12 June 2019, lot 189. See, also, the similarly depicted gilt-bronze figure of Guandi, dated 17^th-18^th century, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2004, lot 84.