Lot 49. A large and imposing sancai stoneware figure of a Daoist deity, Ming dynasty. Height 44 in., 111.8 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 149,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

seated squarely on a slab-form throne, dressed as a heavenly official in green-glazed robes with black and yellow borders over a yellow skirt, an aubergine apron secured at the waist by a belt set with appliques and hung with a long sash, the face well-modeled with a calm and distinguished expression below a majisterial cap, applied with 'precious stones', all supported on a plinth with lion-masked cabriole legs and footrest with cloud scroll feet.

Provenance: Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan, New York.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Junius Spencer Morgan III (1892-1960).
The Collection of Louise C. Morgan, Salutation, West Island, Glen Cove, Long Island.
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 26th, 27th, 28th May 1974, lot 125 (with color illustration).
Sotheby's New York, 7th December 1983, lot 278.

Note: Seven figures of Daoist deities, all from the same set and formerly in the Morgan family collection were sold after Louise C. Morgan's death in 1974 at the family home 'Salutation' West Island, Glen Cove, Long Island New York by Sotheby's on 26th, 27th and 28th May, lots 76, 77, 78, 124, 125, 126 and 127.  The present figure, lot 125, is the only in the group given a full page color illustration.  Four figures of this group have been subsequently reoffered, two, from the Estate of Bernice Richard, were sold by Christie's New York, 2nd December 1993, lot 276 and another at Christie's New York, 28th March 1996, lot 342 and the present example in these rooms 7th December 1983, lot 278. 

Both Buddhist and Daoist sancai-glazed stoneware figures were popularly commissioned during the Ming dynasty. Other Daoist examples include a smaller figure of the Heavenly Marshal Zhao, dated 1482 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and another related seated figure of the Daoist God of Literature, Wenchang Wang in the Royal Ontario Museum is illustrated in Henry Trubner, Royal Ontario Museum, The Far Eastern Collection, Toronto, 1968, p. 72, no. 90.