Ming Dynasty Guan Yu Statue: 明关羽像
Originally posted by: Collecting Chinese Armor & Art
Seated bronze statue of Guan Yu 关羽 from Ming Dynasty. Once it was kept in Xifeng Temple, Fan County, 范县西峰寺 in Henan Province, and is now in the collection of Henan Xinxiang Museum 新乡博物馆. Height 172 cm, width 118 cm, thickness 98 cm, and weighs more than 580 kg. The Cult of Guan Yu slowly developed hundreds of years after his death. Although the Sima family- and by extension, the Cao family were seen as the original legitimate inheritors of China. Following the disastrous 3 centuries of political chaos in China, the warlord Liu Bei's state of Shu (Han) slowly gained legitimacy in the public conscious.
Guan Yu was first deified during the Sui dynasty, and his cult steadily gained prominence in the ensuing centuries- where by many folk stories emerged that depicted him as a paragon of Confucian virtues of loyalty and filial piety. As a result of his association with chivalric virtues, Guan Yu became the patron deity of many secret underground organizations where by oathes and swears to Lord Guan was an important rite during the initiation and binding agreements. His cult gained a prominent position at the onset of the Mongol Yuan dynasty's collapse and the establishment of the Ming dynasty. The writer of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"- Luo Guanzhong himself was a strong fan of this chivalric depiction of Guan Yu. Guan Yu would play a prominent part in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
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Comments
I especially like the example of Mount Scale Armour on this statue. How realistic is the depiction of the armour I wonder? Was it like the equivalent of a cartoon, with cartoon armour or was it modeled on a real soldier who dressed like that?
There are many camps regarding these iconic armors, ranging with people either suggesting these are ceremonial in nature, (like some Tang armors) or that they are merely an artistic representation of Chainmail armors. I strongly disagree with the latter perspective because there are statues that has both clearly chainmail elements and also other parts that's in this style.
A moe Version Historical Chinese armor That you may find interesting