A pair of three-legged toads
date: label: Date
content: 1368-1644
label: Period
content: Ming dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Li Di (active late 12th-early 13th century)
notes: label: Label
content: The magic toad, which represents the “essence” (zhenjing) in internal elixir (neidan) practices, was believed to appear whenever Daoist immortal Liu swung a string of coins. The coins signify Liu’s enlightenment by an immortal who stacked ten eggs on one coin by way of alluding to the precariousness of human existence. In the late Qing period (1644– 1911), a three-legged toad was also used to pray for beneficial rain.
label: Provenance
content: To 1916
label: Provenance
content: Wang Jiantang, Shanghai to 1916 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1916 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Wang Jiantang in 1916 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Album List, S.I. 36A, pg. 50, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history. See Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details. See especially, Curatorial Remark 4, Ma Su, 1917, in the object record, which states: "The seal on the left upper corner of the picture is that of the Ch'ien-lung Imperial Galleries."
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Daoism in the Arts in China (December 16, 2006 to July 1, 2007)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Wang Jiantang 王鑑堂 (late 19th-early 20th century) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: Daoism
label: Topic
content: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
label: Topic
content: toad
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1916.571e
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 21.1 x 20.1 cm (8 5/16 x 7 15/16 in)