Cleveland Museum of Art

Dish with Laozi Riding a Water Buffalo (interior); Pavilion and Immortals in Rocky Landscape (exterior)

Date

1723–35

Medium

porcelain with underglaze blue decoration

Culture

China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng reign (1723-35)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Daoism traces its origins to Laozi, a sage believed to have lived in the sixth century BC, who was the reputed author of the Daode jing (Classic of the Way), a fundamental text for Daoism. The interior of this dish depicts the elderly Laozi riding a buffalo. He is accompanied by three servants and is greeted by a scholarlike figure. This dish borrows brush and shading techniques typically employed by artists who paint on paper or silk, a development frequently seen in porcelain decoration around the 1700s.

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