Protective Amulet / Artist Unknown Taiwan
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2006/2.44
- Title
- Protective Amulet
- Artist
- Artist Unknown Taiwan
- Artist Nationality
- Taiwanese
- Medium and Support
- polychrome on wood
- Object Creation Date
- 20th century
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- Taiwan (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Taiwan (nation)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Ellen and Richard Laing
- Dimensions
- 21.2 cm x 21.8 cm x 1.2 cm (8 3/8 in. x 8 9/16 in. x 1/2 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Wood and Woodcarving
- Primary Object Type
- plaque
- Secondary Object Classification
- Decorative Arts
- Physical Description
- Plaque in the form of a snarling lion's face holding a double-edged "severn star" (here only three of the seven stars are depicted as large dots connected by lines) sword in its mouth and ornamented with a red octagon containing the characters for "daqi" surrounded by eight trigrams on its forehead.
- Subject Matter
- This plaque would be mounted above a door to protect a house against malign influences. Each motif exerts a strong influence against evil: the lion is the fearsome king of beasts; the "seven stars" represent the Great Dipper, one of the most powerful asterisms in Daoist heaven; the "seven-star" sword is used in Daoist exorcisms to expe demons; "daqi" is the "Supreme Ultimate" of Daoist beliefs and in conjunction with the eight trigrams (combinations of broken and unbroken lines) is common in good omen designs.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals and creatures
- descriptors
- edged weapons
- legendary creatures
- mammals
- object genres
- object genres by form
- object genres by function
- objects we use
- weapons
- weapons and ammunition
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 2407 x 2407
- File Size
- 393 KB
- Record
- 2006/2.44
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-2.44/2006_2.44.jpg
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- Full citation
-
"Protective Amulet; Artist Unknown Taiwan." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-2.44/2006_2.44.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 15, 2024.