Unknown Maker, Chinese

This female figure carrying a basket of flowers and riding a deer is Magu, the Daoist immortal. Believed to have lived during the Han Dynasty (200 BCE-200 CE), she is recognized by her long fingernails, which resemble bird claws. This fragment presumably was part of a Daoist temple mural depicting various immortals. The emphasis on the undulating brushwork echoes the importance of the calligraphic line in Chinese painting.

Unlike Buddhism, Daoism is indigenous to China. According to Daoism, yin (female) and yang (male) serve as complementary cosmological forces; their dynamic interaction is vital to all aspects of life and the universe. Goddesses such as Magu represented the yin force and were the protectors of life.