Antique Chinese Ivory Carving
Tieguai Li
1 of 8 Taoist Immortal
Early Republic, circa: early 20th century
H 6 in.(15cm.), W 1.75 in.(4.5cm.), D 1.25 in.(3cm.)
6.75 inches w/ wood base
Condition: hairlines, age cracks

One of the Taoist Immortals, Tieguai was a philosopher and a student of Lao-Tze himself. He was a person of refinement and stature; a commanding physical presence. His lessons sometimes required him to meet with his teacher in heaven, which Tieguai could do because he possessed the power to exhale his spirit so that it might go anywhere. Tieguai would leave his body in the care of his disciple, explaining that if it were left for more than seven days it would vanish. One day Tieguai’s spirit was called to visit the bedside of his dying mother. He remained too long, and when he returned home his body was gone. By the roadside he found the fresh corpse of a lame beggar. He entered this body and remained in it, living out his life in poverty.

This finely carved ivory depicts Tieguai as the lame beggar, clutching his staff for balance, his only property a flask held to a rope around his body and his iron staff. His robes fit loosely around his thin frame, his lame leg held up by a crossbar on his staff. He is devoid of embellishment or ornamentation. The only decorative elements in the work are the coils of Tieguai’s beard and hair. The arrangement of folds in rhythmic intervals and arabesques is skillfully accomplished front and back with an almost Romanesque quality and is perfectly adapted to the shape of the raw material; at its fullest point is Tieguai’s head, carved fully in the round, his face beaming with untroubled happiness.