Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Door Guard Zhao Gongming
Not on view
As door guard, Zhao Gongming is usually paired with the Lamp-lighting Daoist Master, both fictional characters from the late sixteenth-century novel the Investiture of the Gods. Here, he rides a tiger and brandishes his iron cudgel. A pair of scissors, his magic weapon, floats underneath. The gold ingot held in his left hand indicates that he is also the god of wealth. The characterization of Zhao Gongming’s face, masklike in thick red, black, and white pigments, derives from the makeup conventions of Chinese opera. The predominant red color signals the character’s courage and righteousness.
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