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Yao (Mien) Bible, Paintings of Taoist Gods #1 browse these categories for related items... All Items: Archives:Regional Art:Asian:Southeast Asian: Pre 1900: item # 174483 Please refer to our stock # 57-33 when inquiring.
Silk Road Gallery PO Box 2175 Branford, Connecticut 06405, USA (203) 208-0771 Guest Book SOLD |
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| These large scrolls are the first four of a set of 27 paintings, sometimes called a Yao Bible, from the Yao (Mien) tribal people who originated in southern China, and now are found across northern areas of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. The Yao adopted Taoist beliefs in China five or six centuries ago, merging them with rituals already deeply imbedded in the tribal culture. Since then, the lives of the Yao have been governed by Taoism as it was practiced in the 15th century, mixed with ancestor worship and a densely populated spirit world. These paintings are essential to the practice of those beliefs. This set includes 17 large hanging scrolls, 8 smaller paintings and one very long horizontal scroll. (See a similar complete Yao Bible pictured in “Peoples of the Golden Triangle,” by Paul and Elaine Lewis, Thames and Hudson, pp 158, 159.) The paintings in this set are from the late 19th century and probably were painted in China, then taken to Laos, where large numbers of Yao emigrated, and later to Thailand, where many of the Yao went when Laos became embroiled in the Vietnam War. Travelers to the Golden Triangle and northern tribal areas of Vietnam can identify the Yao from the distinctive red ruff and large black turban worn by Yao women. They call themselves “Yu Mien” and their popular classification as “Yao” may be derived from their pronunciation of the “Yu.” Although they speak a Sino-Tibetan language sprinkled with Lao and Thai, the men of the tribe have used Chinese characters for many centuries to record important tribal documents, and Chinese characters are embedded in the paintings in this Bible. The Yao religion is complex and requires time-consuming rituals, most of them involving this Taoist pantheon, or Bible. The scrolls are carefully displayed during rituals in a rigidly proscribed order. Our catalogue photos are arranged with the 17 large scrolls in proper Yao order—the first scroll in our catalogue entry #1 would be displayed on the far left, with the following 16 scrolls proceeding in a row left to right. The Yao believe that their gods actually inhabit the scrolls and when a Bible is “decommissioned” such as this one, a special ceremony is held in order to ask the gods to find another home. These scrolls, which still retain the smoky campfire odor absorbed when they were used during rituals, are on thick brown triple-layered mulberry paper. While all the paintings show evidence of repeated use, they are in good condition because that they were carefully handled. Dimensions of each of these four large scrolls: height 43 ¾” (111 cm), width 18 ½” (47 cm). | |||||||||||||||
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