Cleveland Museum of Art

The Immortal Li Tieguai

Su Wennan

Date: 1500s
Medium: bronze
Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

This bronze statue of Li Tieguai shows him dressed as a beggar in a tattered robe, holding a crutch in his right and a ball of medicine in his left hand. Li Tieguai is the patron saint for physicians and legend says that he dispenses pills from the gourd for the sick. He wears a belt of leaves and another gourd hangs from his waist. His head is crowned with what appears to be a metal ring, signifying his immortal status. Four incised characters in seal script on the back of the figure reads “made by Su Wennan (蘇文南製).”

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